Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's Mellanox (mlx5) network driver. The software fails to properly release system memory when certain internal requests for device information fail. Over time, repeated failed requests could exhaust available system memory, potentially leading to system instability or a denial of service.
Technical details
A memory leak exists in the MLX5_IB_METHOD_GET_DATA_DIRECT_SYSFS_PATH uverbs handler within the mlx5 RDMA driver. The function allocates memory for a device path using kobject_get_path(); however, if the resulting path length exceeds the provided output buffer, the function returns -ENOSPC without calling kfree() on the allocated buffer. This can be triggered by a local user with access to RDMA uverbs. The issue has been resolved by ensuring kfree() is called in the error path. Patches have been applied to various stable kernel branches.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel Versions including mlx5 RDMA driver
Timeline
- 2026-01-26: other: Patch submitted by developer
- 2026-05-27: disclosed: CVE published