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CVE-2022-49812 Not scored

bridge: switchdev: Fix memory leaks when changing VLAN protocol

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bridge: switchdev: Fix memory leaks when changing VLAN protocol The bridge driver can offload VLANs to the underlying hardware either via switchdev or the 8021q driver. When the former is used, the VLAN is marked in the bridge driver with the 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV' private flag. To avoid the memory leaks mentioned in the cited commit, the bridge driver will try to delete a VLAN via the 8021q driver if the VLAN is not marked with the previously mentioned flag. When the VLAN protocol of the bridge changes, switchdev drivers are notified via the 'SWITCHDEV_ATTR_ID_BRIDGE_VLAN_PROTOCOL' attribute, but the 8021q driver is also called to add the existing VLANs with the new protocol and delete them with the old protocol. In case the VLANs were offloaded via switchdev, the above behavior is both redundant and buggy. Redundant because the VLANs are already programmed in hardware and drivers that support VLAN protocol change (currently only mlx5) change the protocol upon the switchdev attribute notification. Buggy because the 8021q driver is called despite these VLANs being marked with 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV'. This leads to memory leaks [1] when the VLANs are deleted. Fix by not calling the 8021q driver for VLANs that were already programmed via switchdev. [1] unreferenced object 0xffff8881f6771200 (size 256): comm "ip", pid 446855, jiffies 4298238841 (age 55.240s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 7f 0e 83 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<00000000012819ac>] vlan_vid_add+0x437/0x750 [<00000000f2281fad>] __br_vlan_set_proto+0x289/0x920 [<000000000632b56f>] br_changelink+0x3d6/0x13f0 [<0000000089d25f04>] __rtnl_newlink+0x8ae/0x14c0 [<00000000f6276baf>] rtnl_newlink+0x5f/0x90 [<00000000746dc902>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x336/0xa00 [<000000001c2241c0>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x11d/0x340 [<0000000010588814>] netlink_unicast+0x438/0x710 [<00000000e1a4cd5c>] netlink_sendmsg+0x788/0xc40 [<00000000e8992d4e>] sock_sendmsg+0xb0/0xe0 [<00000000621b8f91>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x4ff/0x6d0 [<000000000ea26996>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x12e/0x1b0 [<00000000684f7e25>] __sys_sendmsg+0xab/0x130 [<000000004538b104>] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 [<0000000091ed9678>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

Exploit probability 0.2%
Published May 1, 2025
Required by Not available
Last source change August 12, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Linux Kernel
Unknown Unknown

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2022-49812

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bridge: switchdev: Fix memory leaks when changing VLAN protocol The bridge driver can offload VLANs to the underlying hardware either via switchdev or the 8021q driver. When the former is used, the VLAN is marked in the bridge driver with the 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV' private flag. To avoid the memory leaks mentioned in the cited commit, the bridge driver will try to delete a VLAN via the 8021q driver if the VLAN is not marked with the previously mentioned flag. When the VLAN protocol of the bridge changes, switchdev drivers are notified via the 'SWITCHDEV_ATTR_ID_BRIDGE_VLAN_PROTOCOL' attribute, but the 8021q driver is also called to add the existing VLANs with the new protocol and delete them with the old protocol. In case the VLANs were offloaded via switchdev, the above behavior is both redundant and buggy. Redundant because the VLANs are already programmed in hardware and drivers that support VLAN protocol change (currently only mlx5) change the protocol upon the switchdev attribute notification. Buggy because the 8021q driver is called despite these VLANs being marked with 'BR_VLFLAG_ADDED_BY_SWITCHDEV'. This leads to memory leaks [1] when the VLANs are deleted. Fix by not calling the 8021q driver for VLANs that were already programmed via switchdev. [1] unreferenced object 0xffff8881f6771200 (size 256): comm "ip", pid 446855, jiffies 4298238841 (age 55.240s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 7f 0e 83 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace: [<00000000012819ac>] vlan_vid_add+0x437/0x750 [<00000000f2281fad>] __br_vlan_set_proto+0x289/0x920 [<000000000632b56f>] br_changelink+0x3d6/0x13f0 [<0000000089d25f04>] __rtnl_newlink+0x8ae/0x14c0 [<00000000f6276baf>] rtnl_newlink+0x5f/0x90 [<00000000746dc902>] rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x336/0xa00 [<000000001c2241c0>] netlink_rcv_skb+0x11d/0x340 [<0000000010588814>] netlink_unicast+0x438/0x710 [<00000000e1a4cd5c>] netlink_sendmsg+0x788/0xc40 [<00000000e8992d4e>] sock_sendmsg+0xb0/0xe0 [<00000000621b8f91>] ____sys_sendmsg+0x4ff/0x6d0 [<000000000ea26996>] ___sys_sendmsg+0x12e/0x1b0 [<00000000684f7e25>] __sys_sendmsg+0xab/0x130 [<000000004538b104>] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x90 [<0000000091ed9678>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0

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05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence