CVE-2024-46857: net/mlx5: Fix bridge mode operations when there are no VFs
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2024-46857 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 10.8% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 5.5, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 18 · Related 16Timeline
- 27-09-2024PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 11-05-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: Fix bridge mode operations when there are no VFs Currently, trying to set the bridge mode attribute when numvfs=0 leads to a crash: bridge link set dev eth2 hwmode vepa [ 168.967392] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000030 [...] [ 168.969989] RIP: 0010:mlx5_add_flow_rules+0x1f/0x300 [mlx5_core] [...] [ 168.976037] Call Trace: [ 168.976188] <TASK> [ 168.978620] _mlx5_eswitch_set_vepa_locked+0x113/0x230 [mlx5_core] [ 168.979074] mlx5_eswitch_set_vepa+0x7f/0xa0 [mlx5_core] [ 168.979471] rtnl_bridge_setlink+0xe9/0x1f0 [ 168.979714] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x159/0x400 [ 168.980451] netlink_rcv_skb+0x54/0x100 [ 168.980675] netlink_unicast+0x241/0x360 [ 168.980918] netlink_sendmsg+0x1f6/0x430 [ 168.981162] ____sys_sendmsg+0x3bb/0x3f0 [ 168.982155] ___sys_sendmsg+0x88/0xd0 [ 168.985036] __sys_sendmsg+0x59/0xa0 [ 168.985477] do_syscall_64+0x79/0x150 [ 168.987273] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [ 168.987773] RIP: 0033:0x7f8f7950f917 (esw->fdb_table.legacy.vepa_fdb is null) The bridge mode is only relevant when there are multiple functions per port. Therefore, prevent setting and getting this setting when there are no VFs. Note that after this change, there are no settings to change on the PF interface using `bridge link` when there are no VFs, so the interface no longer appears in the `bridge link` output.
CVSS metrics
3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated5.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.21%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
11%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.21% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu126 products
- linuxAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 6.8.0-50.51
- linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 6.8.0-1020.22
- linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
- linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
- linux≥ 4b89251de024fb85329e4cbd8fbea551ae6c665c, < 52c4beb79e095e0631b5cac46ed48a2aefe51985 | ≥ 4b89251de024fb85329e4cbd8fbea551ae6c665c, < 65feee671e37f3b6eda0b6af28f204b5bcf7fa50 | ≥ 4b89251de024fb85329e4cbd8fbea551ae6c665c, < 505ae01f75f839b54329164bbfecf24cc1361b31 | ≥ 4b89251de024fb85329e4cbd8fbea551ae6c665c, < b1d305abef4640af1b4f1b4774d513cd81b10cfc | 5.1
- linux_kernel≥ 5.1, < 6.1.111 | ≥ 6.2, < 6.6.52 | ≥ 6.7, < 6.10.11 | 6.11:rc1 | 6.11:rc2 | 6.11:rc3 | 6.11:rc4 | 6.11:rc5 | 6.11:rc6 | 6.11:rc7
Debian1 product
- linux< 6.1.112-1 | < 6.10.11-1
3 vendors · 129 products
