[PATCH net] net/mlx5e: Fix use-after-free in mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover

From: Matt Fleming

Date: Wed Apr 08 2026 - 14:45:29 EST


From: Matt Fleming <mfleming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover() accesses sq->netdev after
mlx5e_safe_reopen_channels() has torn down and freed the channel (and
its embedded SQs). Replace the three sq->netdev references with
priv->netdev which is safe because priv outlives channel teardown.

The netdev_err() call already used priv->netdev for this reason; make
the trylock/unlock and health_channel_eq_recover calls consistent.

This fixes the following KASAN splat:

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover+0x1dd/0x360 [mlx5_core]
Read of size 8 at addr ffff889860ed0b28 by task kworker/u113:2/5277

Call Trace:
mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover+0x1dd/0x360 [mlx5_core]
devlink_health_reporter_recover+0xa2/0x150
devlink_health_report+0x254/0x7c0
mlx5e_reporter_tx_timeout+0x297/0x380 [mlx5_core]
mlx5e_tx_timeout_work+0x109/0x170 [mlx5_core]
process_one_work+0x677/0xf20
worker_thread+0x51f/0xd90
kthread+0x3a5/0x810
ret_from_fork+0x208/0x400
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

Fixes: 83ac0304a2d7 ("net/mlx5e: Fix deadlocks between devlink and netdev instance locks")
Signed-off-by: Matt Fleming <mfleming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/reporter_tx.c | 6 +++---
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/reporter_tx.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/reporter_tx.c
index afdeb1b3d425..8409ae73768f 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/reporter_tx.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/reporter_tx.c
@@ -160,13 +160,13 @@ static int mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover(void *ctx)
* channels are being closed for other reason and this work is not
* relevant anymore.
*/
- while (!netdev_trylock(sq->netdev)) {
+ while (!netdev_trylock(priv->netdev)) {
if (!test_bit(MLX5E_STATE_CHANNELS_ACTIVE, &priv->state))
return 0;
msleep(20);
}

- err = mlx5e_health_channel_eq_recover(sq->netdev, eq, sq->cq.ch_stats);
+ err = mlx5e_health_channel_eq_recover(priv->netdev, eq, sq->cq.ch_stats);
if (!err) {
to_ctx->status = 0; /* this sq recovered */
goto out;
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ static int mlx5e_tx_reporter_timeout_recover(void *ctx)
"mlx5e_safe_reopen_channels failed recovering from a tx_timeout, err(%d).\n",
err);
out:
- netdev_unlock(sq->netdev);
+ netdev_unlock(priv->netdev);
return err;
}

--
2.43.0