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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2023-52851 json

IB/mlx5: Fix init stage error handling to avoid double free of same QP and UAF

published 2024-05-21 2 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-59564

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 14%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

IB/mlx5: Fix init stage error handling to avoid double free of same QP and UAF

In the unlikely event that workqueue allocation fails and returns NULL in mlx5_mkey_cache_init(), delete the call to mlx5r_umr_resource_cleanup() (which frees the QP) in mlx5_ib_stage_post_ib_reg_umr_init(). This will avoid attempted double free of the same QP when __mlx5_ib_add() does its cleanup.

Resolves a splat:

Syzkaller reported a UAF in ib_destroy_qp_user

workqueue: Failed to create a rescuer kthread for wq "mkey_cache": -EINTR infiniband mlx5_0: mlx5_mkey_cache_init:981:(pid 1642): failed to create work queue infiniband mlx5_0: mlx5_ib_stage_post_ib_reg_umr_init:4075:(pid 1642): mr cache init failed -12 ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ib_destroy_qp_user (drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:2073) Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810da310a8 by task repro_upstream/1642

Call Trace: <TASK> kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:590) ib_destroy_qp_user (drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:2073) mlx5r_umr_resource_cleanup (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/umr.c:198) __mlx5_ib_add (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4178) mlx5r_probe (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4402) ... </TASK>

Allocated by task 1642: __kmalloc (./include/linux/kasan.h:198 mm/slab_common.c:1026 mm/slab_common.c:1039) create_qp (./include/linux/slab.h:603 ./include/linux/slab.h:720 ./include/rdma/ib_verbs.h:2795 drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:1209) ib_create_qp_kernel (drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:1347) mlx5r_umr_resource_init (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/umr.c:164) mlx5_ib_stage_post_ib_reg_umr_init (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4070) __mlx5_ib_add (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4168) mlx5r_probe (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4402) ...

Freed by task 1642: __kmem_cache_free (mm/slub.c:1826 mm/slub.c:3809 mm/slub.c:3822) ib_destroy_qp_user (drivers/infiniband/core/verbs.c:2112) mlx5r_umr_resource_cleanup (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/umr.c:198) mlx5_ib_stage_post_ib_reg_umr_init (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4076 drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4065) __mlx5_ib_add (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4168) mlx5r_probe (drivers/infiniband/hw/mlx5/main.c:4402) ...

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.1.63, 6.5.12, 6.6.2, 6.7
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.64-1
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.6.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52851

  • linux-nvidia-6.5 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 6.5.0-1014.14

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52851

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-9.1
  • kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-9.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-18.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-17.1.1.51
  • kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1
  • kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.10.5.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:20028-1SUSE-SU-2025:20008-1SUSE-SU-2024:2973-1SUSE-SU-2024:2896-1SUSE-SU-2024:2571-1SUSE-SU-2024:2190-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-52851 updated cvss 4.4

kernel: IB/mlx5: Fix init stage error handling to avoid double free of same QP and UAF

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more
    affected: no fix available

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 14% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.