# CVE-2024-53121: net/mlx5: fs, lock FTE when checking if active > A race condition in the Linux kernel mlx5 driver can cause a system panic when deleting flow rules concurrently. - **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 2 Dec 2024 - **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026 - **Also known as:** AZL-54243, AZL-54245, BELL-CVE-2024-53121, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53121, GHSA-gwx2-9h8p-phf8, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53121 ## What is CVE-2024-53121? CVE-2024-53121 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Dec 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/mlx5: fs, lock FTE when checking if active The referenced commits introduced a two-step process for deleting FTEs: - Lock the FTE, delete it from hardware, set the hardware deletion function to NULL and unlock the FTE. - Lock the parent flow group, delete the software copy of the FTE, and remove it from the xarray. However, this approach encounters a race condition if a rule with the same match value is added simultaneously. In this scenario, fs_core may set the hardware deletion function to NULL prematurely, causing a panic during subsequent rule deletions. To prevent this, ensure the active flag of the FTE is checked under a lock, which will prevent the fs_core layer from attaching a new steering rule to an FTE that is in the process of deletion. [ 438.967589] MOSHE: 2496 mlx5_del_flow_rules del_hw_func [ 438.968205] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 438.968654] refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory. [ 438.969249] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 8957 at lib/refcount.c:31 refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110 [ 438.970054] Modules linked in: act_mirred cls_flower act_gact sch_ingress openvswitch nsh mlx5_vdpa vringh vhost_iotlb vdpa mlx5_ib mlx5_core xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlink xt_addrtype iptable_nat nf_nat br_netfilter rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcgss oid_registry overlay rpcrdma rdma_ucm ib_iser libiscsi scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm ib_uverbs ib_core zram zsmalloc fuse [last unloaded: cls_flower] [ 438.973288] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 8957 Comm: tc Not tainted 6.12.0-rc1+ #8 [ 438.973888] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 438.974874] RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110 [ 438.975363] Code: 40 66 3b 82 c6 05 16 e9 4d 01 01 e8 1f 7c a0 ff 0f 0b c3 cc cc cc cc 48 c7 c7 10 66 3b 82 c6 05 fd e8 4d 01 01 e8 05 7c a0 ff <0f> 0b c3 cc cc cc cc 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 00 90 [ 438.976947] RSP: 0018:ffff888124a53610 EFLAGS: 00010286 [ 438.977446] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888119d56de0 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 438.978090] RDX: ffff88852c828700 RSI: ffff88852c81b3c0 RDI: ffff88852c81b3c0 [ 438.978721] RBP: ffff888120fa0e88 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffff888124a534b0 [ 438.979353] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffff888119d56de0 [ 438.979979] R13: ffff888120fa0ec0 R14: ffff888120fa0ee8 R15: ffff888119d56de0 [ 438.980607] FS: 00007fe6dcc0f800(0000) GS:ffff88852c800000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 438.983984] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 438.984544] CR2: 00000000004275e0 CR3: 0000000186982001 CR4: 0000000000372eb0 [ 438.985205] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 [ 438.985842] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 [ 438.986507] Call Trace: [ 438.986799] [ 438.987070] ? __warn+0x7d/0x110 [ 438.987426] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110 [ 438.987877] ? report_bug+0x17d/0x190 [ 438.988261] ? prb_read_valid+0x17/0x20 [ 438.988659] ? handle_bug+0x53/0x90 [ 438.989054] ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x70 [ 438.989458] ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 [ 438.989883] ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xfb/0x110 [ 438.990348] mlx5_del_flow_rules+0x2f7/0x340 [mlx5_core] [ 438.990932] __mlx5_eswitch_del_rule+0x49/0x170 [mlx5_core] [ 438.991519] ? mlx5_lag_is_sriov+0x3c/0x50 [mlx5_core] [ 438.992054] ? xas_load+0x9/0xb0 [ 438.992407] mlx5e_tc_rule_unoffload+0x45/0xe0 [mlx5_core] [ 438.993037] mlx5e_tc_del_fdb_flow+0x2a6/0x2e0 [mlx5_core] [ 438.993623] mlx5e_flow_put+0x29/0x60 [mlx5_core] [ 438.994161] mlx5e_delete_flower+0x261/0x390 [mlx5_core] [ 438.994728] tc_setup_cb_destroy+0xb9/0x190 [ 438.995150] fl_hw_destroy_filter+0x94/0xc0 [cls_flower] [ 438.995650] fl_change+0x11a4/0x13c0 [cls_flower] [ 438.996105] tc_new_tfilter+0x347/0xbc0 [ 438.996503] ? __ ---truncated--- Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-53121? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2024-53121? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2024-53121 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-53121 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-2024-53121 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2024-53121 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 Dec 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-2024-53121 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-2024-53121/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53121/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-53121 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53121 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-53121 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-53121/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.