CVE-2025-21682

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.
ProviderTypeBase ScoreAtk. VectorAtk. ComplexityPriv. RequiredVector
NISTNIST
5.5 MEDIUM
LOCAL
LOW
LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
LinuxCNA
---
---
Base Score
CVSS 3.x
EPSS Score
Percentile: 1%
VendorProductVersion
linuxlinux_kernel
4.16 ≤
𝑥
< 6.12.11
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc1
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc2
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc3
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc4
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc5
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc6
linuxlinux_kernel
6.13:rc7
𝑥
= Vulnerable software versions
Debian logo
Debian Releases
Debian Product
Codename
linux
bullseye
vulnerable
bullseye (security)
vulnerable
bookworm
vulnerable
bookworm (security)
vulnerable
trixie
6.12.20-1
fixed
sid
6.12.21-1
fixed