Linux Kernel: RDMA/mlx5 SRQ Init Fall-Through Deref Error
CVE-2026-46176 Published on May 28, 2026

RDMA/mlx5: Fix error path fall-through in mlx5_ib_dev_res_srq_init()
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/mlx5: Fix error path fall-through in mlx5_ib_dev_res_srq_init() mlx5_ib_dev_res_srq_init() allocates two SRQs, s0 and s1. When ib_create_srq() fails for s1, the error branch destroys s0 but falls through and unconditionally assigns the freed s0 and the ERR_PTR s1 to devr->s0 and devr->s1. This leads to several problems: the lock-free fast path checks "if (devr->s1) return 0;" and treats the ERR_PTR as already initialised; users in mlx5_ib_create_qp() dereference the freed SRQ or ERR_PTR via to_msrq(devr->s0)->msrq.srqn; and mlx5_ib_dev_res_cleanup() dereferences the ERR_PTR and double-frees s0 on teardown. Fix by adding the same `goto unlock` in the s1 failure path.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-46176 is exploitable with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a Dangling pointer Vulnerability?

The program dereferences a pointer that contains a location for memory that was previously valid, but is no longer valid. When a program releases memory, but it maintains a pointer to that memory, then the memory might be re-allocated at a later time. If the original pointer is accessed to read or write data, then this could cause the program to read or modify data that is in use by a different function or process. Depending on how the newly-allocated memory is used, this could lead to a denial of service, information exposure, or code execution.

CVE-2026-46176 has been classified to as a Dangling pointer vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-46176

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Linux Kernel
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Eus
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
 
Red Hat Rhel Eus
 

Affected Versions

Linux: Linux: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v. 10.0): Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.6): Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9): Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v. 10.0): Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.6): Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9): Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v. 10.0): Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10): Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.6): Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV EUS (v. 10.0): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV EUS (v.9.6): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time EUS (v. 10.0): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time EUS (v.9.6): Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.14%
Percentile
3.48%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.