VulnerabilityPublished 15 Aug 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-72341: Linux kernel · net/mlx5e: Fix publication race for priv->channel_stats[]

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-72341

Not known to be exploited · fixed in 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1 : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 16:39 UTC

Severity

Low

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 10% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1 +11

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 15 Aug 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-rffj-59x2-vrx3

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-38.38	Fixed in 7.0.0-38.38
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-aws`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-1014.14	Fixed in 7.0.0-1014.14
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-1017.17	Fixed in 7.0.0-1017.17
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fde`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-1016.16	Fixed in 7.0.0-1016.16
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcp`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-1014.14	Fixed in 7.0.0-1014.14
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gke`pkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resolute`Other threats	Affected <7.0.0-1008.9	Fixed in 7.0.0-1008.9

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A patch is available and should be applied to affected Linux kernel versions to fix the race condition by adding proper memory barriers. The fix ensures safe publication of channel statistics entries and prevents NULL pointer dereferences. Users should update to patched kernel versions as provided by their Linux distribution vendors. No additional mitigation is required beyond applying the official fix.

Description

A race condition in the Linux kernel's mlx5e network driver caused a potential NULL pointer dereference on weakly-ordered architectures such as ARM, PowerPC, and RISC-V. This occurred because the publication of new channel statistics entries and the increment of the stats counter lacked proper memory barriers, allowing readers to observe inconsistent state. The issue was observed on BlueField-3 DPUs during NIC bringup, leading to kernel crashes. The vulnerability has been fixed by adding memory barrier helpers to ensure proper ordering of updates and visibility of channel statistics entries.

Impact

On affected systems, particularly on weakly-ordered CPU architectures, this race condition could cause kernel NULL pointer dereferences leading to kernel crashes. This impacts system stability and availability but does not directly indicate privilege escalation or data compromise. The issue was observed in production on BlueField-3 DPUs during network interface bringup.

Summary

The Linux kernel's mlx5e driver had a race condition in the publication of priv->channel_stats[] entries and the increment of priv->stats_nch, which serves as a publication token. Without memory barriers, on weakly-ordered architectures, readers could see an incremented stats_nch while the corresponding channel_stats entry was still NULL, causing NULL pointer dereferences. This was observed on BlueField-3 DPUs (arm64) during concurrent access by ovs-vswitchd querying netdev statistics. The fix introduced mlx5e_stats_nch_write() and mlx5e_stats_nch_read() helpers that use smp_store_release() and smp_load_acquire() to enforce memory ordering, ensuring that channel_stats entries are fully published before stats_nch is incremented and read.

References

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