CVE-2023-54074

A flaw was found in the mlx5e Traffic Control (TC) encapsulation logic in the net/mlx5e driver of the Linux kernel. The code responsible for invalidating encapsulation actions did not use the proper helper function to retrieve the correct encapsulation attribute, instead assuming the default attribute would suffice. When the post-action infrastructure was introduced, most users of the encap attribute were updated to call mlx5e_tc_get_encap_attr() to obtain the correct attribute; however, the invalidation path in mlx5e_invalidate_encap() was not updated accordingly. This could result in improper destruction of header modify actions and generate WARNINGS in the kernel log.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact because exploitation requires specific traffic control offloading configurations on systems utilizing Mellanox hardware, and primarily leads to driver state inconsistency and kernel warnings rather than arbitrary code execution. The flaw is confined to the Mellanox network driver stack (mlx5_core) and only affects deployments configured with encapsulation actions under the traffic control post-action framework. Environments not using affected Mellanox ConnectX adapters or those without hardware-offloaded packet encapsulation rules are not exposed to this issue.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.