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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-31691

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: igb: remove napi_synchronize() in igb_down() When an AF_XDP zero-copy application terminates abruptly (e.g., kill -9), the XSK buffer pool is destroyed but NAPI polling continues.…

MEDIUM 5.5EPSS 0.11%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.11%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: igb: remove napi_synchronize() in igb_down() When an AF_XDP zero-copy application terminates abruptly (e.g., kill -9), the XSK buffer pool is destroyed but NAPI polling continues. igb_clean_rx_irq_zc() repeatedly returns the full budget, preventing napi_complete_done() from clearing NAPI_STATE_SCHED. igb_down() calls napi_synchronize() before napi_disable() for each queue vector. napi_synchronize() spins waiting for NAPI_STATE_SCHED to clear, which never happens. igb_down() blocks indefinitely, the TX watchdog fires, and the TX queue remains permanently stalled. napi_disable() already handles this correctly: it sets NAPI_STATE_DISABLE. After a full-budget poll, __napi_poll() checks napi_disable_pending(). If set, it forces completion and clears NAPI_STATE_SCHED, breaking the loop that napi_synchronize() cannot. napi_synchronize() was added in commit 41f149a285da ("igb: Fix possible panic caused by Rx traffic arrival while interface is down"). napi_disable() provides stronger guarantees: it prevents further scheduling and waits for any active poll to exit. Other Intel drivers (ixgbe, ice, i40e) use napi_disable() without a preceding napi_synchronize() in their down paths. Remove redundant napi_synchronize() call and reorder napi_disable() before igb_set_queue_napi() so the queue-to-NAPI mapping is only cleared after polling has fully stopped.

CVSS 3.1
5.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS
0.11% probability · 2th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Affected
linux/linux kernel
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.