CVE-2026-99079

CRITICAL CVSS 3.1: 9.8 EPSS 0.21%
Updated Oct 24, 2026
Linux
Parameter Value
CVSS 9.8 (CRITICAL)
Affected Versions 6.4 — 7.3
Fixed In 6.6.160
Vendor Linux
Public PoC No

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Prevent stale XSK buffer release on refill retry When an XDP redirect to an AF_XDP socket fails because its RX ring is full, the XSK core frees the buffer. During the subsequent batched refill of a legacy cyclic RQ, mlx5e also releases the WQE's XSK buffer before allocating a replacement. If that refill succeeds only partially, a WQE left without a replacement retains its old buffer pointer.

The buffer can meanwhile be allocated to another WQE. A later refill retry can then free the live buffer through the stale pointer and publish the same UMEM frame twice. Mark the WQE as released immediately after the driver-side free.

The flag is already cleared when a replacement buffer is assigned, so refill retries no longer release stale pointers. The failure is silent and produces no kernel warning or splat. A standalone legacy cyclic-RQ zero-copy libxsk reproducer, using 64-byte UDP traffic offered at 12 Mpps, detected it: stock stopped after 2,854,914 packets in 4.094 seconds, with 4,542 xdp_rx_ring_full events and 64 ownership/double-publication errors.

With this change it processed 356,904,225 packets in 30 seconds despite 571,405 xdp_rx_ring_full events, with no ownership or data errors.

Attack Parameters

Attack Vector
Network
Can be exploited remotely
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed

Impact Assessment

Confidentiality
High
Complete data leak
Integrity
High
Complete data modification
Availability
High
Complete denial of service

CVSS Vector v3.1

Vulnerable Products 5

Configuration From (including) Up to (excluding)
Linux Linux_Kernel
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
6.4 6.6.160
Linux Linux_Kernel
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
6.4 6.12.113
Linux Linux_Kernel
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
6.4 6.18.57
Linux Linux_Kernel
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
6.4 7.2.11
Linux Linux_Kernel
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
6.4 7.3