published August 22, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: atlantic: free stranded TX buffers on ring deinit
aq_vec_deinit() drains the TX rings with a single aq_ring_tx_clean()
call, which frees at most AQ_CFG_TX_CLEAN_BUDGET (256) descriptors and
stops at hw_head, which no longer moves once aq_vec_stop() has stopped
the hardware and NAPI. Completed descriptors beyond the budget and
everything still posted in [hw_head, sw_tail) keep their skb or
xdp_frame when the interface goes down: aq_vec_ring_free() then frees
the buffer ring and the references are lost for good.
Today this is a silent memory leak on every interface down under
TX/XDP_TX load. With the conversion of the RX path to page_pool posted
for net-next it becomes much more visible: XDP_TX frames carry fragment
references on the RX ring's page_pool, so a single stranded frame keeps
the pool's inflight count above zero forever. page_pool_destroy() then
never completes, the pool is leaked together with its pages, and
"page_pool_release_retry() stalled pool shutdown" is warned every 60
seconds from that point on, on every ifdown, XDP detach or ring resize
under XDP_TX load.
Bring back aq_ring_tx_deinit() as it was before the removal and use it
for teardown again, with one extension: TX rings can hold xdp_frames
nowadays, so release those too. They are returned with
xdp_return_frame() since this runs in process context.