# CVE-2024-50146: net/mlx5e: Don't call cleanup on profile rollback failure > A null pointer dereference in the mlx5e network driver causes a kernel crash during driver unload if profile rollback fails. - **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`) - **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:** Yes - **Published:** 7 Nov 2024 - **Updated:** 11 May 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-53256, AZL-53355, BELL-CVE-2024-50146, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50146, GHSA-wxqq-8jjm-6pjm, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2024-50146, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50146 ## What is CVE-2024-50146? CVE-2024-50146 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Nov 2024. 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/mlx5e: Don't call cleanup on profile rollback failure When profile rollback fails in mlx5e_netdev_change_profile, the netdev profile var is left set to NULL. Avoid a crash when unloading the driver by not calling profile->cleanup in such a case. This was encountered while testing, with the original trigger that the wq rescuer thread creation got interrupted (presumably due to Ctrl+C-ing modprobe), which gets converted to ENOMEM (-12) by mlx5e_priv_init, the profile rollback also fails for the same reason (signal still active) so the profile is left as NULL, leading to a crash later in _mlx5e_remove. [ 732.473932] mlx5_core 0000:08:00.1: E-Switch: Unload vfs: mode(OFFLOADS), nvfs(2), necvfs(0), active vports(2) [ 734.525513] workqueue: Failed to create a rescuer kthread for wq "mlx5e": -EINTR [ 734.557372] mlx5_core 0000:08:00.1: mlx5e_netdev_init_profile:6235:(pid 6086): mlx5e_priv_init failed, err=-12 [ 734.559187] mlx5_core 0000:08:00.1 eth3: mlx5e_netdev_change_profile: new profile init failed, -12 [ 734.560153] workqueue: Failed to create a rescuer kthread for wq "mlx5e": -EINTR [ 734.589378] mlx5_core 0000:08:00.1: mlx5e_netdev_init_profile:6235:(pid 6086): mlx5e_priv_init failed, err=-12 [ 734.591136] mlx5_core 0000:08:00.1 eth3: mlx5e_netdev_change_profile: failed to rollback to orig profile, -12 [ 745.537492] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 [ 745.538222] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [ 745.551290] Call Trace: [ 745.551590] [ 745.551866] ? __die+0x20/0x60 [ 745.552218] ? page_fault_oops+0x150/0x400 [ 745.555307] ? exc_page_fault+0x79/0x240 [ 745.555729] ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 [ 745.556166] ? mlx5e_remove+0x6b/0xb0 [mlx5_core] [ 745.556698] auxiliary_bus_remove+0x18/0x30 [ 745.557134] device_release_driver_internal+0x1df/0x240 [ 745.557654] bus_remove_device+0xd7/0x140 [ 745.558075] device_del+0x15b/0x3c0 [ 745.558456] mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked.part.0+0xb1/0x2f0 [mlx5_core] [ 745.559112] mlx5_unregister_device+0x34/0x50 [mlx5_core] [ 745.559686] mlx5_uninit_one+0x46/0xf0 [mlx5_core] [ 745.560203] remove_one+0x4e/0xd0 [mlx5_core] [ 745.560694] pci_device_remove+0x39/0xa0 [ 745.561112] device_release_driver_internal+0x1df/0x240 [ 745.561631] driver_detach+0x47/0x90 [ 745.562022] bus_remove_driver+0x84/0x100 [ 745.562444] pci_unregister_driver+0x3b/0x90 [ 745.562890] mlx5_cleanup+0xc/0x1b [mlx5_core] [ 745.563415] __x64_sys_delete_module+0x14d/0x2f0 [ 745.563886] ? kmem_cache_free+0x1b0/0x460 [ 745.564313] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0xe2/0x190 [ 745.564825] do_syscall_64+0x6d/0x140 [ 745.565223] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [ 745.565725] RIP: 0033:0x7f1579b1288b Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50146? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2024-50146? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2024-50146 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50146 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel - [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2024-50146 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2024-50146 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 7 Nov 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50146 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50146/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50146/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-50146 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50146 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-50146 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-50146/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.