Re: [PATCH net v2] net/mlx5e: macsec: fix use-after-free of metadata_dst on RX SC delete
From: Simon Horman
Date: Thu Jun 18 2026 - 09:29:02 EST
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---
net/mlx5e: macsec: fix use-after-free of metadata_dst on RX SC delete
This commit fixes a use-after-free in the MACsec RX datapath by replacing
a synchronous metadata_dst_free() with dst_release() when an RX SC is
deleted. It also updates the datapath to use dst_hold_safe() to avoid
acquiring a reference to a dying destination entry.
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/macsec.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/macsec.c
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/macsec.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/macsec.c
> @@ -829,7 +829,7 @@ static void macsec_del_rxsc_ctx(struct mlx5e_macsec *macsec, struct mlx5e_macsec
> */
> list_del_rcu(&rx_sc->rx_sc_list_element);
> xa_erase(&macsec->sc_xarray, rx_sc->sc_xarray_element->fs_id);
> - metadata_dst_free(rx_sc->md_dst);
> + dst_release(&rx_sc->md_dst->dst);
> kfree(rx_sc->sc_xarray_element);
[Severity: Critical]
This is a pre-existing issue, but is it safe to synchronously call kfree()
on rx_sc->sc_xarray_element here?
The RX datapath accesses the xarray under rcu_read_lock() in
mlx5e_macsec_offload_handle_rx_skb(). If sc_xarray_element is fetched via
xa_load() by a concurrent reader just before xa_erase() runs, won't this
kfree() free the element while the reader is still accessing it, leading to
a use-after-free?
> kfree_rcu_mightsleep(rx_sc);
> }
[ ... ]
> @@ -1697,8 +1697,8 @@ void mlx5e_macsec_offload_handle_rx_skb(struct net_device *netdev,
> sc_xarray_element = xa_load(&macsec->sc_xarray, fs_id);
> rx_sc = sc_xarray_element->rx_sc;
[Severity: Critical]
This isn't a bug introduced by this patch, but does xa_load() return NULL
if the fs_id has already been erased by xa_erase() in the deletion path?
If packets matched by hardware before the rule was deleted are still
lingering in the software RX queues, xa_load() might return NULL.
Dereferencing sc_xarray_element->rx_sc immediately after could cause a
NULL pointer dereference. Could we add a NULL check here before accessing
sc_xarray_element?
[Severity: Critical]
This is also a pre-existing issue, but is rx_sc fully initialized when it
becomes visible to RCU readers?
In mlx5e_macsec_add_rxsc(), it appears sc_xarray_element is published to
the xarray via xa_alloc() before rx_sc->md_dst is allocated and
initialized:
mlx5e_macsec_add_rxsc() {
...
err = xa_alloc(&macsec->sc_xarray, &sc_xarray_element->fs_id, ...);
...
rx_sc->md_dst = metadata_dst_alloc(0, METADATA_MACSEC, GFP_KERNEL);
...
}
Since xa_alloc() assigns the lowest available index, the new fs_id could be
recycled from a recently deleted SC. If a lingering packet with the old
fs_id is processed by the datapath, it could find the newly published
element and attempt to call dst_hold_safe(&rx_sc->md_dst->dst).
Because rx_sc->md_dst is still NULL at that moment, could this cause a NULL
pointer dereference?
> if (rx_sc) {
> - dst_hold(&rx_sc->md_dst->dst);
> - skb_dst_set(skb, &rx_sc->md_dst->dst);
> + if (dst_hold_safe(&rx_sc->md_dst->dst))
> + skb_dst_set(skb, &rx_sc->md_dst->dst);
> }
>
> rcu_read_unlock();