8.4
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-72343
net/mlx5e: Fix HV VHCA stats zero-sized buffer allocation
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Fix HV VHCA stats zero-sized buffer allocation mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() is called from mlx5e_nic_enable(), before mlx5e_open(). At that point priv->stats_nch is still zero, because it is only ever incremented in mlx5e_channel_stats_alloc(), which is reached only from mlx5e_open_channel(). mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_size() therefore returns 0, and kvzalloc(0, GFP_KERNEL) returns ZERO_SIZE_PTR ((void *)16) rather than NULL. The "if (!buf)" guard does not catch this, and mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() completes "successfully" with priv->stats_agent.buf set to ZERO_SIZE_PTR. Once channels are opened (priv->stats_nch > 0) and the hypervisor enables stats reporting, mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_work() recomputes buf_len using the new non-zero stats_nch and calls memset(buf, 0, buf_len) on ZERO_SIZE_PTR, faulting at address 0x10. Allocate the buffer based on priv->max_nch, which is set in mlx5e_priv_init() and is the upper bound on stats_nch: - Add a separate helper mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_max_size() that returns sizeof(per_ring_stats) * max(max_nch, stats_nch), and use it for the kvzalloc() in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create(). - Keep mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_size() (which returns based on stats_nch) for the worker's active payload size, so the wire format (block->rings = stats_nch) and the amount of data filled by mlx5e_hv_vhca_fill_stats() are unchanged. The max(max_nch, stats_nch) guard handles the rare case where mlx5e_attach_netdev() recomputes max_nch downward across a detach/resume cycle while priv->stats_nch persists (mlx5e_detach_netdev does not call mlx5e_priv_cleanup, so stats_nch is only reset when the netdev is destroyed). Without the guard, the worker could compute buf_len from stats_nch and overrun the smaller buffer allocated based on the reduced max_nch. Allocating a non-zero buffer also makes the kvzalloc() failure path in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() reachable for the first time: it returns early without (re)creating the agent. Clear priv->stats_agent.{agent,buf} in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_destroy() after freeing them, so that if a later create() bails out on this path, a subsequent teardown does not double-free the stale agent/buffer left from a previous enable/disable cycle. This mirrors the existing mlx5e pattern of preallocating arrays of size max_nch (e.g. priv->channel_stats) and lazily populating entries up to stats_nch on demand.

INFO

Published Date :

Aug. 15, 2026, 6:22 a.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 17, 2026, 6:18 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-72343 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
Fix memory allocation for HV VHCA stats to prevent crashes and data corruption.
  • Allocate buffer based on max_nch, not current stats_nch.
  • Use helper for buffer size calculation.
  • Clear agent and buffer pointers after freeing.
  • Update kernel to the patched version.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72343 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-72343 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-72343 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-72343 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '3b3a552cf88e10bb7bda88b29cf1fd8267043d50', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '5b927dcec5f1087942bf123a82e64a3f66475f01', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '22c1d5ecccf92c849bdca1556179aafc95794baf', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '420aabb32da4381d8d7cdcaa6a77fad9eaceb0a4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': 'abc4c56427f144c96b2827a4db3b90eb5b7349a2', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '25f6b929c7e379cbea7cb8caa67b49b2d1efae17', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.17'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.17', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '3b3a552cf88e10bb7bda88b29cf1fd8267043d50', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '5b927dcec5f1087942bf123a82e64a3f66475f01', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '22c1d5ecccf92c849bdca1556179aafc95794baf', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '420aabb32da4381d8d7cdcaa6a77fad9eaceb0a4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': 'abc4c56427f144c96b2827a4db3b90eb5b7349a2', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '25f6b929c7e379cbea7cb8caa67b49b2d1efae17', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.17'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.17', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 15, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '3b3a552cf88e10bb7bda88b29cf1fd8267043d50', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '5b927dcec5f1087942bf123a82e64a3f66475f01', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '22c1d5ecccf92c849bdca1556179aafc95794baf', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '420aabb32da4381d8d7cdcaa6a77fad9eaceb0a4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': 'abc4c56427f144c96b2827a4db3b90eb5b7349a2', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'fa691d0c9c0812b9045f3a9420862e47b3b92518', 'lessThan': '25f6b929c7e379cbea7cb8caa67b49b2d1efae17', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.17'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.17', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en/hv_vhca_stats.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5e: Fix HV VHCA stats zero-sized buffer allocation mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() is called from mlx5e_nic_enable(), before mlx5e_open(). At that point priv->stats_nch is still zero, because it is only ever incremented in mlx5e_channel_stats_alloc(), which is reached only from mlx5e_open_channel(). mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_size() therefore returns 0, and kvzalloc(0, GFP_KERNEL) returns ZERO_SIZE_PTR ((void *)16) rather than NULL. The "if (!buf)" guard does not catch this, and mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() completes "successfully" with priv->stats_agent.buf set to ZERO_SIZE_PTR. Once channels are opened (priv->stats_nch > 0) and the hypervisor enables stats reporting, mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_work() recomputes buf_len using the new non-zero stats_nch and calls memset(buf, 0, buf_len) on ZERO_SIZE_PTR, faulting at address 0x10. Allocate the buffer based on priv->max_nch, which is set in mlx5e_priv_init() and is the upper bound on stats_nch: - Add a separate helper mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_max_size() that returns sizeof(per_ring_stats) * max(max_nch, stats_nch), and use it for the kvzalloc() in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create(). - Keep mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_buf_size() (which returns based on stats_nch) for the worker's active payload size, so the wire format (block->rings = stats_nch) and the amount of data filled by mlx5e_hv_vhca_fill_stats() are unchanged. The max(max_nch, stats_nch) guard handles the rare case where mlx5e_attach_netdev() recomputes max_nch downward across a detach/resume cycle while priv->stats_nch persists (mlx5e_detach_netdev does not call mlx5e_priv_cleanup, so stats_nch is only reset when the netdev is destroyed). Without the guard, the worker could compute buf_len from stats_nch and overrun the smaller buffer allocated based on the reduced max_nch. Allocating a non-zero buffer also makes the kvzalloc() failure path in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_create() reachable for the first time: it returns early without (re)creating the agent. Clear priv->stats_agent.{agent,buf} in mlx5e_hv_vhca_stats_destroy() after freeing them, so that if a later create() bails out on this path, a subsequent teardown does not double-free the stale agent/buffer left from a previous enable/disable cycle. This mirrors the existing mlx5e pattern of preallocating arrays of size max_nch (e.g. priv->channel_stats) and lazily populating entries up to stats_nch on demand.
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22c1d5ecccf92c849bdca1556179aafc95794baf
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25f6b929c7e379cbea7cb8caa67b49b2d1efae17
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b3a552cf88e10bb7bda88b29cf1fd8267043d50
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/420aabb32da4381d8d7cdcaa6a77fad9eaceb0a4
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b927dcec5f1087942bf123a82e64a3f66475f01
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abc4c56427f144c96b2827a4db3b90eb5b7349a2
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.