# CVE-2026-43467: net/mlx5: Fix crash when moving to switchdev mode

> A null pointer dereference in the mlx5 network driver causes a kernel crash when switching to switchdev mode on devices without IPsec support.

- **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:** 8 May 2026
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43467, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43467, GHSA-5qcc-ffcx-c8mp, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43467, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43467

## What is CVE-2026-43467?

CVE-2026-43467 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 2026. 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: Fix crash when moving to switchdev mode

When moving to switchdev mode when the device doesn't support IPsec,
we try to clean up the IPsec resources anyway which causes the crash
below, fix that by correctly checking for IPsec support before trying
to clean up its resources.

[27642.515799] WARNING: arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1276 at
do_user_addr_fault+0x18a/0x680, CPU#4: devlink/6490
[27642.517159] Modules linked in: xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE
ip6table_nat ip6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_nat nf_nat xt_addrtype
rpcsec_gss_krb5 auth_rpcgss oid_registry overlay mlx5_fwctl nfnetlink
zram zsmalloc mlx5_ib fuse rpcrdma rdma_ucm ib_uverbs ib_iser libiscsi
scsi_transport_iscsi ib_umad rdma_cm ib_ipoib iw_cm ib_cm mlx5_core
ib_core
[27642.521358] CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 6490 Comm: devlink Not tainted
6.19.0-rc5_for_upstream_min_debug_2026_01_14_16_47 #1 NONE
[27642.522923] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS
rel-1.16.3-0-ga6ed6b701f0a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
[27642.524528] RIP: 0010:do_user_addr_fault+0x18a/0x680
[27642.525362] Code: ff 0f 84 75 03 00 00 48 89 ee 4c 89 e7 e8 5e b9 22
00 49 89 c0 48 85 c0 0f 84 a8 02 00 00 f7 c3 60 80 00 00 74 22 31 c9 eb
   ae <0f> 0b 48 83 c4 10 48 89 ea 48 89 de 4c 89 f7 5b 5d 41 5c 41 5d
41
[27642.528166] RSP: 0018:ffff88810770f6b8 EFLAGS: 00010046
[27642.529038] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX:
ffff88810b980f00
[27642.530158] RDX: 00000000000000a0 RSI: 0000000000000002 RDI:
ffff88810770f728
[27642.531270] RBP: 00000000000000a0 R08: 0000000000000000 R09:
0000000000000000
[27642.532383] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12:
ffff888103f3c4c0
[27642.533499] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88810770f728 R15:
0000000000000000
[27642.534614] FS:  00007f197c741740(0000) GS:ffff88856a94c000(0000)
knlGS:0000000000000000
[27642.535915] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[27642.536858] CR2: 00000000000000a0 CR3: 000000011334c003 CR4:
0000000000172eb0
[27642.537982] Call Trace:
[27642.538466]  <TASK>
[27642.538907]  exc_page_fault+0x76/0x140
[27642.539583]  asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30
[27642.540282] RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x30
[27642.541134] Code: 07 85 c0 75 11 ba ff 00 00 00 f0 0f b1 17 75 06 b8
01 00 00 00 c3 31 c0 c3 90 0f 1f 44 00 00 53 9c 5b fa 31 c0 ba 01 00 00
   00 <f0> 0f b1 17 75 05 48 89 d8 5b c3 89 c6 e8 7e 02 00 00 48 89 d8
      5b
[27642.543936] RSP: 0018:ffff88810770f7d8 EFLAGS: 00010046
[27642.544803] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000202 RCX:
ffff888113ad96d8
[27642.545916] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: ffff88810770f818 RDI:
00000000000000a0
[27642.547027] RBP: 0000000000000098 R08: 0000000000000400 R09:
ffff88810b980f00
[27642.548140] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: ffff888101845a80 R12:
00000000000000a8
[27642.549263] R13: ffffffffa02a9060 R14: 00000000000000a0 R15:
ffff8881130d8a40
[27642.550379]  complete_all+0x20/0x90
[27642.551010]  mlx5e_ipsec_disable_events+0xb6/0xf0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.552022]  mlx5e_nic_disable+0x12d/0x220 [mlx5_core]
[27642.552929]  mlx5e_detach_netdev+0x66/0xf0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.553822]  mlx5e_netdev_change_profile+0x5b/0x120 [mlx5_core]
[27642.554821]  mlx5e_vport_rep_load+0x419/0x590 [mlx5_core]
[27642.555757]  ? xa_load+0x53/0x90
[27642.556361]  __esw_offloads_load_rep+0x54/0x70 [mlx5_core]
[27642.557328]  mlx5_esw_offloads_rep_load+0x45/0xd0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.558320]  esw_offloads_enable+0xb4b/0xc90 [mlx5_core]
[27642.559247]  mlx5_eswitch_enable_locked+0x34e/0x4f0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.560257]  ? mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked+0x222/0x2d0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.561284]  mlx5_devlink_eswitch_mode_set+0x5ac/0x9c0 [mlx5_core]
[27642.562334]  ? devlink_rate_set_ops_supported+0x21/0x3a0
[27642.563220]  devlink_nl_eswitch_set_doit+0x67/0xe0
[27642.564026]  genl_family_rcv_msg_doit+0xe0/0x130
[27642.564816]  genl_rcv_msg+0x183/0x290
[27642.565466]  ? __devlink_nl_pre_doit.isra.0+0x160/0x160
[27642.566329]  ? d
---truncated---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43467?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43467?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43467 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43467 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-2026-43467 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43467 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 2026. 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-2026-43467 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-2026-43467/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43467/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43467
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43467
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43467

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43467/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
