---
id: CVE-2024-38608
title: 'net/mlx5e: Fix netif state handling'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  net/mlx5e: Fix netif state handling

  mlx5e_suspend cleans resources only if netif_device_present() returns
  true. However, mlx5e_resume changes the state of netif, via
  m…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a <
    70eca80d98a44f47cd1633d0c20bda8ae546b4d1
  - >-
    Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a <
    f7e6cfb864a53af71c5cc904f1cc22215d68f5c6
  - >-
    Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a <
    3d5918477f94e4c2f064567875c475468e264644
  - Linux 4.12
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2024-06-20T19:44:05.361644Z'
published: '2024-06-19'
updated: '2026-10-21'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-21T12:34:51.423Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-38608'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70eca80d98a44f47cd1633d0c20bda8ae546b4d1'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7e6cfb864a53af71c5cc904f1cc22215d68f5c6'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d5918477f94e4c2f064567875c475468e264644'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00216
epssPercentile: 0.11356
ingestedAt: '2026-10-21T12:48:53.737Z'
---

## Overview

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

net/mlx5e: Fix netif state handling

mlx5e_suspend cleans resources only if netif_device_present() returns
true. However, mlx5e_resume changes the state of netif, via
mlx5e_nic_enable, only if reg_state == NETREG_REGISTERED.
In the below case, the above leads to NULL-ptr Oops[1] and memory
leaks:

mlx5e_probe
 _mlx5e_resume
  mlx5e_attach_netdev
   mlx5e_nic_enable  <-- netdev not reg, not calling netif_device_attach()
  register_netdev <-- failed for some reason.
ERROR_FLOW:
 _mlx5e_suspend <-- netif_device_present return false, resources aren't freed :(

Hence, clean resources in this case as well.

[1]
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0010 [#1] SMP
CPU: 2 PID: 9345 Comm: test-ovs-ct-gen Not tainted 6.5.0_for_upstream_min_debug_2023_09_05_16_01 #1
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:0x0
Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at0xffffffffffffffd6.
RSP: 0018:ffff888178aaf758 EFLAGS: 00010246
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ? __die+0x20/0x60
 ? page_fault_oops+0x14c/0x3c0
 ? exc_page_fault+0x75/0x140
 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30
 notifier_call_chain+0x35/0xb0
 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x3d/0x60
 mlx5_blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x22/0x30 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_core_uplink_netdev_event_replay+0x3e/0x60 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_mdev_netdev_track+0x53/0x60 [mlx5_ib]
 mlx5_ib_roce_init+0xc3/0x340 [mlx5_ib]
 __mlx5_ib_add+0x34/0xd0 [mlx5_ib]
 mlx5r_probe+0xe1/0x210 [mlx5_ib]
 ? auxiliary_match_id+0x6a/0x90
 auxiliary_bus_probe+0x38/0x80
 ? driver_sysfs_add+0x51/0x80
 really_probe+0xc9/0x3e0
 ? driver_probe_device+0x90/0x90
 __driver_probe_device+0x80/0x160
 driver_probe_device+0x1e/0x90
 __device_attach_driver+0x7d/0x100
 bus_for_each_drv+0x80/0xd0
 __device_attach+0xbc/0x1f0
 bus_probe_device+0x86/0xa0
 device_add+0x637/0x840
 __auxiliary_device_add+0x3b/0xa0
 add_adev+0xc9/0x140 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_rescan_drivers_locked+0x22a/0x310 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_register_device+0x53/0xa0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_init_one_devl_locked+0x5c4/0x9c0 [mlx5_core]
 mlx5_init_one+0x3b/0x60 [mlx5_core]
 probe_one+0x44c/0x730 [mlx5_core]
 local_pci_probe+0x3e/0x90
 pci_device_probe+0xbf/0x210
 ? kernfs_create_link+0x5d/0xa0
 ? sysfs_do_create_link_sd+0x60/0xc0
 really_probe+0xc9/0x3e0
 ? driver_probe_device+0x90/0x90
 __driver_probe_device+0x80/0x160
 driver_probe_device+0x1e/0x90
 __device_attach_driver+0x7d/0x100
 bus_for_each_drv+0x80/0xd0
 __device_attach+0xbc/0x1f0
 pci_bus_add_device+0x54/0x80
 pci_iov_add_virtfn+0x2e6/0x320
 sriov_enable+0x208/0x420
 mlx5_core_sriov_configure+0x9e/0x200 [mlx5_core]
 sriov_numvfs_store+0xae/0x1a0
 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x10c/0x1a0
 vfs_write+0x291/0x3c0
 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0
 do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0
 CR2: 0000000000000000
 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000  ]---

## Affected

- `Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a < 70eca80d98a44f47cd1633d0c20bda8ae546b4d1`
- `Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a < f7e6cfb864a53af71c5cc904f1cc22215d68f5c6`
- `Linux >= 2c3b5beec46ab0d77c94828eb15170b333ae769a < 3d5918477f94e4c2f064567875c475468e264644`
- `Linux 4.12`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.