Vulnerability Database

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CVE-2026-43468 — linux / linux_kernel

Improper Locking

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/mlx5: Fix deadlock between devlink lock and esw->wq

esw->work_queue executes esw_functions_changed_event_handler -> esw_vfs_changed_event_handler and acquires the devlink lock.

.eswitch_mode_set (acquires devlink lock in devlink_nl_pre_doit) -> mlx5_devlink_eswitch_mode_set -> mlx5_eswitch_disable_locked -> mlx5_eswitch_event_handler_unregister -> flush_workqueue deadlocks when esw_vfs_changed_event_handler executes.

Fix that by no longer flushing the work to avoid the deadlock, and using a generation counter to keep track of work relevance. This avoids an old handler manipulating an esw that has undergone one or more mode changes:

  • the counter is incremented in mlx5_eswitch_event_handler_unregister.
  • the counter is read and passed to the ephemeral mlx5_host_work struct.
  • the work handler takes the devlink lock and bails out if the current generation is different than the one it was scheduled to operate on.
  • mlx5_eswitch_cleanup does the final draining before destroying the wq.

No longer flushing the workqueue has the side effect of maybe no longer cancelling pending vport_change_handler work items, but that's ok since those are disabled elsewhere:

  • mlx5_eswitch_disable_locked disables the vport eq notifier.
  • mlx5_esw_vport_disable disarms the HW EQ notification and marks vport->enabled under state_lock to false to prevent pending vport handler from doing anything.
  • mlx5_eswitch_cleanup destroys the workqueue and makes sure all events are disabled/finished.
  • Published: May 8, 2026
  • Updated: May 22, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2026-43468
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

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