CVE-2025-68779

A use-after-free vulnerability was found in the Mellanox mlx5 Ethernet driver in the Linux kernel. The PSP (Platform Security Processor) component is unregistered twice during device removal - once in _mlx5e_remove() and again in mlx5e_nic_cleanup(). This double unregistration causes a refcount underflow, triggering a use-after-free condition.

This vulnerability affects systems with Mellanox ConnectX network adapters during device removal or driver unload operations. The refcount underflow could potentially be exploited but requires precise timing during driver cleanup. The primary impact is a kernel warning and potential instability rather than arbitrary code execution.

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.

To mitigate this issue, prevent the mlx5_core module from being loaded if Mellanox ConnectX network devices are not required. See https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for instructions on how to blacklist a kernel module.