CVE-2026-53289 is a vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Published on June 26, 2026
ice: fix NULL pointer dereference in ice_reset_all_vfs()
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ice: fix NULL pointer dereference in ice_reset_all_vfs()
ice_reset_all_vfs() ignores the return value of ice_vf_rebuild_vsi().
When the VSI rebuild fails (e.g. during NVM firmware update via
nvmupdate64e), ice_vsi_rebuild() tears down the VSI on its error path,
leaving txq_map and rxq_map as NULL. The subsequent unconditional call
to ice_vf_post_vsi_rebuild() leads to a NULL pointer dereference in
ice_ena_vf_q_mappings() when it accesses vsi->txq_map[0].
The single-VF reset path in ice_reset_vf() already handles this
correctly by checking the return value of ice_vf_reconfig_vsi() and
skipping ice_vf_post_vsi_rebuild() on failure.
Apply the same pattern to ice_reset_all_vfs(): check the return value
of ice_vf_rebuild_vsi() and skip ice_vf_post_vsi_rebuild() and
ice_eswitch_attach_vf() on failure. The VF is left safely disabled
(ICE_VF_STATE_INIT not set, VFGEN_RSTAT not set to VFACTIVE) and can
be recovered via a VFLR triggered by a PCI reset of the VF
(sysfs reset or driver rebind).
Note that this patch does not prevent the VF VSI rebuild from failing
during NVM update the underlying cause is firmware being in a
transitional state while the EMP reset is processed, which can cause
Admin Queue commands (ice_add_vsi, ice_cfg_vsi_lan) to fail. This
patch only prevents the subsequent NULL pointer dereference that
crashes the kernel when the rebuild does fail.
crash> bt
PID: 50795 TASK: ff34c9ee708dc680 CPU: 1 COMMAND: "kworker/u512:5"
#0 [ff72159bcfe5bb50] machine_kexec at ffffffffaa8850ee
#1 [ff72159bcfe5bba8] __crash_kexec at ffffffffaaa15fba
#2 [ff72159bcfe5bc68] crash_kexec at ffffffffaaa16540
#3 [ff72159bcfe5bc70] oops_end at ffffffffaa837eda
#4 [ff72159bcfe5bc90] page_fault_oops at ffffffffaa893997
#5 [ff72159bcfe5bce8] exc_page_fault at ffffffffab528595
#6 [ff72159bcfe5bd10] asm_exc_page_fault at ffffffffab600bb2
[exception RIP: ice_ena_vf_q_mappings+0x79]
RIP: ffffffffc0a85b29 RSP: ff72159bcfe5bdc8 RFLAGS: 00010206
RAX: 00000000000f0000 RBX: ff34c9efc9c00000 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000010 RDI: ff34c9efc9c00000
RBP: ff34c9efc27d4828 R8: 0000000000000093 R9: 0000000000000040
R10: ff34c9efc27d4828 R11: 0000000000000040 R12: 0000000000100000
R13: 0000000000000010 R14: R15:
ORIG_RAX: ffffffffffffffff CS: 0010 SS: 0018
#7 [ff72159bcfe5bdf8] ice_sriov_post_vsi_rebuild at ffffffffc0a85e2e [ice]
#8 [ff72159bcfe5be08] ice_reset_all_vfs at ffffffffc0a920b4 [ice]
#9 [ff72159bcfe5be48] ice_service_task at ffffffffc0a31519 [ice]
#10 [ff72159bcfe5be88] process_one_work at ffffffffaa93dca4
#11 [ff72159bcfe5bec8] worker_thread at ffffffffaa93e9de
#12 [ff72159bcfe5bf18] kthread at ffffffffaa946663
#13 [ff72159bcfe5bf50] ret_from_fork at ffffffffaa8086b9
The panic occurs attempting to dereference the NULL pointer in RDX at
ice_sriov.c:294, which loads vsi->txq_map (offset 0x4b8 in ice_vsi).
The faulting VSI is an allocated slab object but not fully initialized
after a failed ice_vsi_rebuild():
crash> struct ice_vsi 0xff34c9efc27d4828
netdev = 0x0,
rx_rings = 0x0,
tx_rings = 0x0,
q_vectors = 0x0,
txq_map = 0x0,
rxq_map = 0x0,
alloc_txq = 0x10,
num_txq = 0x10,
alloc_rxq = 0x10,
num_rxq = 0x10,
The nvmupdate64e process was performing NVM firmware update:
crash> bt 0xff34c9edd1a30000
PID: 49858 TASK: ff34c9edd1a30000 CPU: 1 COMMAND: "nvmupdate64e"
#0 [ff72159bcd617618] __schedule at ffffffffab5333f8
#4 [ff72159bcd617750] ice_sq_send_cmd at ffffffffc0a35347 [ice]
#5 [ff72159bcd6177a8] ice_sq_send_cmd_retry at ffffffffc0a35b47 [ice]
#6 [ff72159bcd617810] ice_aq_send_cmd at ffffffffc0a38018 [ice]
#7 [ff72159bcd617848] ice_aq_read_nvm at ffffffffc0a40254 [ice]
#8
---truncated---
Products Associated with CVE-2026-53289
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Affected Versions
Linux:- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below acc76b97902757b63ba5136f787d107647236a19 is affected.
- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below 3ad2471e61e9f0c4d25046d08e3d747501c3b0dd is affected.
- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below 4c2ac52eeeb672624b06c7a135301d7b8a21d52e is affected.
- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below 1e9185b13ce57b86844447e092e58abb3be849b1 is affected.
- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below 429024f3a407e4137aee825c2a6be0aba857937d is affected.
- Version 12bb018c538c3b9a050f69f62fa09fa6c9160bca and below 54ef02487914c24170c7e1c061e45212dc55365e is affected.
- Version 5.8 is affected.
- Before 5.8 is unaffected.
- Version 6.1.175, <= 6.1.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.6.141, <= 6.6.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.12.91, <= 6.12.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.33, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.0.10, <= 7.0.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.1, <= * is unaffected.