CVE-2026-72343
Description
A flaw was found in the net/mlx5e component of the Linux kernel. A zero-sized buffer is allocated during the initialization of HV VHCA statistics. When the hypervisor later attempts to enable statistics reporting, a write operation is performed on this invalid memory address. This can lead to a kernel crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the system.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact because triggering the flaw requires specific hardware configurations—namely Mellanox ConnectX devices operating in a Hyper-V virtualized environment where hypervisor statistics reporting is active. While an invalid memory dereference occurs during statistics collection, the resulting failure causes a kernel panic leading to system denial of service without permitting privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution. Consequently, standard deployments lacking Mellanox network hardware or not hosted under Hyper-V are unaffected.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 8.4 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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