# CVE-2026-45973: RDMA/mlx5: Fix UMR hang in LAG error state unload

> A race condition in the Linux kernel RDMA driver causes a hang during device unload in LAG mode, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88652, BELL-CVE-2026-45973, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45973, GHSA-3hq7-v6j3-hpcm, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45973, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45973

## What is CVE-2026-45973?

CVE-2026-45973 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

RDMA/mlx5: Fix UMR hang in LAG error state unload

During firmware reset in LAG mode, a race condition causes the driver
to hang indefinitely while waiting for UMR completion during device
unload. See [1].

In LAG mode the bond device is only registered on the master, so it
never sees sys_error events from the slave.
During firmware reset this causes UMR waits to hang forever on unload
as the slave is dead but the master hasn't entered error state yet, so
UMR posts succeed but completions never arrive.

Fix this by adding a sys_error notifier that gets registered before
MLX5_IB_STAGE_IB_REG and stays alive until after ib_unregister_device().
This ensures error events reach the bond device throughout teardown.

[1]
Call Trace:
 __schedule+0x2bd/0x760
 schedule+0x37/0xa0
 schedule_preempt_disabled+0xa/0x10
 __mutex_lock.isra.6+0x2b5/0x4a0
 __mlx5_ib_dereg_mr+0x606/0x870 [mlx5_ib]
 ? __xa_erase+0x4a/0xa0
 ? _cond_resched+0x15/0x30
 ? wait_for_completion+0x31/0x100
 ib_dereg_mr_user+0x48/0xc0 [ib_core]
 ? rdmacg_uncharge_hierarchy+0xa0/0x100
 destroy_hw_idr_uobject+0x20/0x50 [ib_uverbs]
 uverbs_destroy_uobject+0x37/0x150 [ib_uverbs]
 __uverbs_cleanup_ufile+0xda/0x140 [ib_uverbs]
 uverbs_destroy_ufile_hw+0x3a/0xf0 [ib_uverbs]
 ib_uverbs_remove_one+0xc3/0x140 [ib_uverbs]
 remove_client_context+0x8b/0xd0 [ib_core]
 disable_device+0x8c/0x130 [ib_core]
 __ib_unregister_device+0x10d/0x180 [ib_core]
 ib_unregister_device+0x21/0x30 [ib_core]
 __mlx5_ib_remove+0x1e4/0x1f0 [mlx5_ib]
 auxiliary_bus_remove+0x1e/0x30
 device_release_driver_internal+0x103/0x1f0
 bus_remove_device+0xf7/0x170
 device_del+0x181/0x410
 mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked.part.10+0xa9/0x1d0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_disable_lag+0x253/0x260 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_lag_disable_change+0x89/0xc0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_eswitch_disable+0x67/0xa0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_unload+0x15/0xd0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_unload_one+0x71/0xc0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_sync_reset_reload_work+0x83/0x100 [mlx5_core]
 process_one_work+0x1a7/0x360
 worker_thread+0x30/0x390
 ? create_worker+0x1a0/0x1a0
 kthread+0x116/0x130
 ? kthread_flush_work_fn+0x10/0x10
 ret_from_fork+0x22/0x40

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45973?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45973?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45973 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45973 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-2026-45973 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45973 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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-2026-45973 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-2026-45973/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45973/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45973
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45973
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45973

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45973/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.