ibmvnic: fix race between xmit and reset
Published Feb 26, 2025
9.8
CRITICALCVSS 3.1
EPSS 0.50%
Description
There is a race between reset and the transmit paths that can lead to ibmvnic_xmit() accessing an scrq after it has been freed in the reset path. It can result in a crash like:
Kernel attempted to read user page (0) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000000 Faulting instruction address: 0xc0080000016189f8 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] ... NIP [c0080000016189f8] ibmvnic_xmit+0x60/0xb60 [ibmvnic] LR [c000000000c0046c] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x11c/0x280 Call Trace: [c008000001618f08] ibmvnic_xmit+0x570/0xb60 [ibmvnic] (unreliable) [c000000000c0046c] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x11c/0x280 [c000000000c9cfcc] sch_direct_xmit+0xec/0x330 [c000000000bfe640] __dev_xmit_skb+0x3a0/0x9d0 [c000000000c00ad4] __dev_queue_xmit+0x394/0x730 [c008000002db813c] __bond_start_xmit+0x254/0x450 [bonding] [c008000002db8378] bond_start_xmit+0x40/0xc0 [bonding] [c000000000c0046c] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x11c/0x280 [c000000000c00ca4] __dev_queue_xmit+0x564/0x730 [c000000000cf97e0] neigh_hh_output+0xd0/0x180 [c000000000cfa69c] ip_finish_output2+0x31c/0x5c0 [c000000000cfd244] __ip_queue_xmit+0x194/0x4f0 [c000000000d2a3c4] __tcp_transmit_skb+0x434/0x9b0 [c000000000d2d1e0] __tcp_retransmit_skb+0x1d0/0x6a0 [c000000000d2d984] tcp_retransmit_skb+0x34/0x130 [c000000000d310e8] tcp_retransmit_timer+0x388/0x6d0 [c000000000d315ec] tcp_write_timer_handler+0x1bc/0x330 [c000000000d317bc] tcp_write_timer+0x5c/0x200 [c000000000243270] call_timer_fn+0x50/0x1c0 [c000000000243704] __run_timers.part.0+0x324/0x460 [c000000000243894] run_timer_softirq+0x54/0xa0 [c000000000ea713c] __do_softirq+0x15c/0x3e0 [c000000000166258] __irq_exit_rcu+0x158/0x190 [c000000000166420] irq_exit+0x20/0x40 [c00000000002853c] timer_interrupt+0x14c/0x2b0 [c000000000009a00] decrementer_common_virt+0x210/0x220 --- interrupt: 900 at plpar_hcall_norets_notrace+0x18/0x2c
The immediate cause of the crash is the access of tx_scrq in the following snippet during a reset, where the tx_scrq can be either NULL or an address that will soon be invalid:
ibmvnic_xmit() { ... tx_scrq = adapter->tx_scrq[queue_num]; txq = netdev_get_tx_queue(netdev, queue_num); ind_bufp = &tx_scrq->ind_buf;
if (test_bit(0, &adapter->resetting)) { ... }
But beyond that, the call to ibmvnic_xmit() itself is not safe during a reset and the reset path attempts to avoid this by stopping the queue in ibmvnic_cleanup(). However just after the queue was stopped, an in-flight ibmvnic_complete_tx() could have restarted the queue even as the reset is progressing.
Since the queue was restarted we could get a call to ibmvnic_xmit() which can then access the bad tx_scrq (or other fields).
We cannot however simply have ibmvnic_complete_tx() check the ->resetting bit and skip starting the queue. This can race at the "back-end" of a good reset which just restarted the queue but has not cleared the ->resetting bit yet. If we skip restarting the queue due to ->resetting being true, the queue would remain stopped indefinitely potentially leading to transmit timeouts.
IOW ->resetting is too broad for this purpose. Instead use a new flag that indicates whether or not the queues are active. Only the open/ reset paths control when the queues are active. ibmvnic_complete_tx() and others wake up the queue only if the queue is marked active.
So we will have: A. reset/open thread in ibmvnic_cleanup() and __ibmvnic_open()
->resetting = true ->tx_queues_active = false disable tx queues ... ->tx_queues_active = true start tx queues
B. Tx interrupt in ibmvnic_complete_tx():
if (->tx_queues_active) netif_wake_subqueue();
To ensure that ->tx_queues_active and state of the queues are consistent, we need a lock which:
- must also be taken in the interrupt path (ibmvnic_complete_tx()) - shared across the multiple ---truncated---
Affected products
-
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints
- Version
-
- Version 5.4StatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version 0StatusunaffectedConstraints<5.4
- Version 5.15.33StatusunaffectedConstraints<=5.15.*
- Version 5.16.19StatusunaffectedConstraints<=5.16.*
- Version 5.17.2StatusunaffectedConstraints<=5.17.*
- Version 5.18StatusunaffectedConstraints<=*
- Version
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
- ≥ 5.4 · < 5.15.33
- ≥ 5.16 · < 5.16.19
- ≥ 5.17 · < 5.17.2
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
kernel
Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
kernel-rt
Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
kernel
Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
kernel-rt
Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
kernel-rt
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel | Out of support scope | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-rt | Out of support scope | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel | Out of support scope | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel-rt | Out of support scope | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel-rt | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
1 other source (CVE.org) ▾
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v2.0 score for this CVE.
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
CISA SSVC (Vulnrichment)
Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization from CISA ADP.
Exploitation
NoneAutomatable
NoTechnical Impact
PartialDecision
n/aAssessed Oct 1, 2025 · SSVC 2.0.3
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 3, 2026.
Score over time
2025–2026- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (4 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | 0.50% (0.00496) | 40.42th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.17% (0.00165) | 6.04th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.03% (0.00026) | 4.39th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Feb 27, 2025 | 0.04% (0.00045) | 18.25th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
References (9)
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49201 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2348046 Issue Tracking
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1bd58abf595b6cf1ba6dd47ec887c4c009155fc9 Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4219196d1f662cb10a462eb9e076633a3fc31a15 Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/475f9cce98b63bc145b4efa66fa51175d4cb345f Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8507c6ade73cdbbbda5c3d31d67f52f2e1cf03fe Patch
- https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2025022618-CVE-2022-49201-f972@gregkh/T
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49201
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49201
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.