Description
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.
Metrics
No CVSS score has been published yet.
Affected software
Source: the vendor's advisory (CNA). NVD analysis pending.
No affected versions have been published.
Timeline
- Published
- Aug 22, 2026
- Last modified
- Oct 14, 2026
- NVD status
- Received