CVE-2025-21682

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel 4.16-6.12.11 - NULL Pointer Dereference in bnxt_en Driver via XDP Reconfiguration

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: eth: bnxt: always recalculate features after XDP clearing, fix null-deref Recalculate features when XDP is detached. Before: # ip li set dev eth0 xdp obj xdp_dummy.bpf.o sec xdp # ip li set dev eth0 xdp off # ethtool -k eth0 | grep gro rx-gro-hw: off [requested on] After: # ip li set dev eth0 xdp obj xdp_dummy.bpf.o sec xdp # ip li set dev eth0 xdp off # ethtool -k eth0 | grep gro rx-gro-hw: on The fact that HW-GRO doesn't get re-enabled automatically is just a minor annoyance. The real issue is that the features will randomly come back during another reconfiguration which just happens to invoke netdev_update_features(). The driver doesn't handle reconfiguring two things at a time very robustly. Starting with commit 98ba1d931f61 ("bnxt_en: Fix RSS logic in __bnxt_reserve_rings()") we only reconfigure the RSS hash table if the "effective" number of Rx rings has changed. If HW-GRO is enabled "effective" number of rings is 2x what user sees. So if we are in the bad state, with HW-GRO re-enablement "pending" after XDP off, and we lower the rings by / 2 - the HW-GRO rings doing 2x and the ethtool -L doing / 2 may cancel each other out, and the: if (old_rx_rings != bp->hw_resc.resv_rx_rings && condition in __bnxt_reserve_rings() will be false. The RSS map won't get updated, and we'll crash with: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000168 RIP: 0010:__bnxt_hwrm_vnic_set_rss+0x13a/0x1a0 bnxt_hwrm_vnic_rss_cfg_p5+0x47/0x180 __bnxt_setup_vnic_p5+0x58/0x110 bnxt_init_nic+0xb72/0xf50 __bnxt_open_nic+0x40d/0xab0 bnxt_open_nic+0x2b/0x60 ethtool_set_channels+0x18c/0x1d0 As we try to access a freed ring. The issue is present since XDP support was added, really, but prior to commit 98ba1d931f61 ("bnxt_en: Fix RSS logic in __bnxt_reserve_rings()") it wasn't causing major issues.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0020
EPSS Percentile 9.8%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact partial

Details

CWE
CWE-476
Status published
Products (13)
linux/Kernel 4.16.0 - 6.12.11linux
Linux/Linux < 4.16
Linux/Linux 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b - 076a694a42ae3f0466bc6e4126050eeb7b7d299a
Linux/Linux 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b - 08831a894d18abfaabb5bbde7c2069a7fb41dd93
Linux/Linux 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b - 90336fc3d6f5e716ac39a9ddbbde453e23a5aa65
Linux/Linux 1054aee82321483dceabbb9b9e5d6512e8fe684b - f0aa6a37a3dbb40b272df5fc6db93c114688adcd
Linux/Linux 4.16
Linux/Linux 6.1.167 - 6.1.*
Linux/Linux 6.12.11 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.13
... and 3 more
Published Jan 31, 2025
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026