CVE-2023-53347 net/mlx5: Handle pairing of E-switch via uplink un/load APIs
A null pointer dereference in the mlx5 driver causes a kernel crash when unloading devices with VF_LAG enabled, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-53347?
CVE-2023-53347 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/mlx5: Handle pairing of E-switch via uplink un/load APIs
In case user switch a device from switchdev mode to legacy mode, mlx5 first unpair the E-switch and afterwards unload the uplink vport. From the other hand, in case user remove or reload a device, mlx5 first unload the uplink vport and afterwards unpair the E-switch.
The latter is causing a bug[1], hence, handle pairing of E-switch as part of uplink un/load APIs.
[1] In case VF_LAG is used, every tc fdb flow is duplicated to the peer esw. However, the original esw keeps a pointer to this duplicated flow, not the peer esw. e.g.: if user create tc fdb flow over esw0, the flow is duplicated over esw1, in FW/HW, but in SW, esw0 keeps a pointer to the duplicated flow. During module unload while a peer tc fdb flow is still offloaded, in case the first device to be removed is the peer device (esw1 in the example above), the peer net-dev is destroyed, and so the mlx5e_priv is memset to 0. Afterwards, the peer device is trying to unpair himself from the original device (esw0 in the example above). Unpair API invoke the original device to clear peer flow from its eswitch (esw0), but the peer flow, which is stored over the original eswitch (esw0), is trying to use the peer mlx5e_priv, which is memset to 0 and result in bellow kernel-oops.
[ 157.964081 ] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 000000000002ce60 [ 157.964662 ] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 157.965123 ] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [ 157.965582 ] PGD 0 P4D 0 [ 157.965866 ] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP [ 157.967670 ] RIP: 0010:mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x48/0x460 [mlx5_core] [ 157.976164 ] Call Trace: [ 157.976437 ] <TASK> [ 157.976690 ] __mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_peer_flow+0xe6/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 157.977230 ] mlx5e_tc_clean_fdb_peer_flows+0x67/0x90 [mlx5_core] [ 157.977767 ] mlx5_esw_offloads_unpair+0x2d/0x1e0 [mlx5_core] [ 157.984653 ] mlx5_esw_offloads_devcom_event+0xbf/0x130 [mlx5_core] [ 157.985212 ] mlx5_devcom_send_event+0xa3/0xb0 [mlx5_core] [ 157.985714 ] esw_offloads_disable+0x5a/0x110 [mlx5_core] [ 157.986209 ] mlx5_eswitch_disable_locked+0x152/0x170 [mlx5_core] [ 157.986757 ] mlx5_eswitch_disable+0x51/0x80 [mlx5_core] [ 157.987248 ] mlx5_unload+0x2a/0xb0 [mlx5_core] [ 157.987678 ] mlx5_uninit_one+0x5f/0xd0 [mlx5_core] [ 157.988127 ] remove_one+0x64/0xe0 [mlx5_core] [ 157.988549 ] pci_device_remove+0x31/0xa0 [ 157.988933 ] device_release_driver_internal+0x18f/0x1f0 [ 157.989402 ] driver_detach+0x3f/0x80 [ 157.989754 ] bus_remove_driver+0x70/0xf0 [ 157.990129 ] pci_unregister_driver+0x34/0x90 [ 157.990537 ] mlx5_cleanup+0xc/0x1c [mlx5_core] [ 157.990972 ] __x64_sys_delete_module+0x15a/0x250 [ 157.991398 ] ? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xea/0x110 [ 157.991840 ] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 [ 157.992198 ] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-53347?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2023-53347?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2023-53347 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-53347 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-71900, BELL-CVE-2023-53347, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-53347, GHSA-52q8-cgf7-57fr, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2023-53347, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2023-53347 and 1 more.