CVE-2026-74691
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: thunderbolt: Tear down DMA paths before stopping the rings
tbnet_tear_down() stops both rings and frees their frame buffers before
calling tb_xdomain_disable_paths(). tb_ring_stop() zeroes the ring's
descriptor base and tbnet_free_buffers() unmaps and frees the pages the
frames sit in, so by the time __tb_path_deactivate_hop() polls the hop's
'pending' bit, anything still in flight has nowhere to drain to.
The teardown sequence has been in this order since the driver was added.
The setup path has not: commit ff7cd07f3064 ("net: thunderbolt: Enable
DMA paths only after rings are enabled") moved the path enable to the end
of tbnet_connected_work() and documented why:
/* Both logins successful so enable the rings, high-speed DMA
- paths and start the network device queue.
*
- Note we enable the DMA paths last to make sure we have primed
- the Rx ring before any incoming packets are allowed to
- arrive.
*/
Teardown was never updated to match, so the rings and the paths now come
down in the same order they go up instead of in reverse.
On an ASMedia ASM4242 host router the 'pending' bit then never clears:
every teardown burns the full 500 ms timeout and
__tb_path_deactivate_hop() returns -ETIMEDOUT. Raising the timeout to
5 s does not help, so the hop is not slow to drain, it never drains
at all.
The failure is invisible above the thunderbolt core.
__tb_path_deactivate_hops() is void and only calls tb_port_warn();
tb_path_deactivate(), tb_tunnel_deactivate() and
__tb_disconnect_xdomain_paths() are void as well, and
tb_disconnect_xdomain_paths() ends in an unconditional "return 0". So
tb_xdomain_disable_paths() reports success and the netdev_warn() below
it never fires. Repeated teardowns eventually take the XDomain control
channel down, after which the peer node is gone and only a power cycle
brings the controller back.
Deactivating the paths first fixes it. Measured with kr
CSIRTS triage
- What
- Thunderbolt network driver does not tear down DMA paths before stopping rings, causing potential data corruption or access violations.
- Who is affected
- Systems with Thunderbolt networking enabled, particularly during device removal or shutdown.
- Urgency
- Medium-high priority; CVSS 6.5 indicates elevated severity; not currently exploited.
- Action
- Apply kernel patch ensuring DMA paths are torn down before ring shutdown or update to patched version.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Exploitation outlook
- Low exploitation risk0.17% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 7% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.
Advisory coverage (2)
External references
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