High · published October 6, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
RDMA/core: Reject unregistering netdevs in ib_get_eth_speed
ib_device_get_netdev() intentionally returns a referenced net_device even
when it is unregistering, so matching and cleanup callers can still find
the association. The reference keeps struct net_device allocated, but does
not guarantee that the device remains operational.
ib_get_eth_speed() uses the returned device operationally by invoking its
ethtool callback. Although that call is made under RTNL, the function does
not verify the registration state first. An asynchronous RDMA port query
can therefore call into a netdev after NETDEV_UNREGISTER and ndo_uninit
have completed.
Check for NETREG_REGISTERED while holding RTNL and return -ENODEV for a
device which is being unregistered. Keeping RTNL across the check and the
ethtool operation prevents unregister from starting between them.
Keep the speed fallback and warning under RTNL as well, so the warning can
safely read netdev->name. Drop the netdev reference before releasing RTNL
once all accesses to the device are complete.