In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: stmmac: xgmac2: disable RBUE in default RX interrupt mask
Enabling the RX Buffer Unavailable (RBUE) interrupt is counterproductive
and can trigger a MAC interrupt storm under heavy RX pressure. When the
DMA runs out of RX descriptors it fires RBUE continuously until software
refills the ring.
However, RBUE is redundant: the normal RX completion interrupt (RIE)
already triggers NAPI, which processes completed descriptors and refills
the ring, causing the DMA to resume. The RBUE handler itself only sets
handle_rx - the same outcome as RIE.
On Agilex5 under heavy RX pressure, the MAC interrupt (which includes
RBUE) was observed firing 1,821,811,555 times against only 2,618,627
actual RX completions - a ~695x ratio - confirming the severity of the
storm.
RBUE does not provide OOM recovery. If page_pool is exhausted,
stmmac_rx_refill() cannot advance the DMA tail pointer, the DMA stays
suspended, and RBUE fires again on the next NAPI completion - a storm
with no forward progress. This patch trades that storm for a clean
stall with the same RX outcome. Proper OOM recovery is a pre-existing
gap outside the scope of this fix.
Note: as a consequence of disabling RBUE, the rx_buf_unav_irq ethtool
counter will always read 0 on XGMAC2 devices. This behaviour is already
inconsistent across DWMAC core versions.
Remove RBUE from XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_EN and XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_RX
to prevent the interrupt storm while keeping normal RX handling intact.
net: stmmac: xgmac2: disable RBUE in default RX interrupt mask
Enabling the RX Buffer Unavailable (RBUE) interrupt is counterproductive
and can trigger a MAC interrupt storm under heavy RX pressure. When the
DMA runs out of RX descriptors it fires RBUE continuously until software
refills the ring.
However, RBUE is redundant: the normal RX completion interrupt (RIE)
already triggers NAPI, which processes completed descriptors and refills
the ring, causing the DMA to resume. The RBUE handler itself only sets
handle_rx - the same outcome as RIE.
On Agilex5 under heavy RX pressure, the MAC interrupt (which includes
RBUE) was observed firing 1,821,811,555 times against only 2,618,627
actual RX completions - a ~695x ratio - confirming the severity of the
storm.
RBUE does not provide OOM recovery. If page_pool is exhausted,
stmmac_rx_refill() cannot advance the DMA tail pointer, the DMA stays
suspended, and RBUE fires again on the next NAPI completion - a storm
with no forward progress. This patch trades that storm for a clean
stall with the same RX outcome. Proper OOM recovery is a pre-existing
gap outside the scope of this fix.
Note: as a consequence of disabling RBUE, the rx_buf_unav_irq ethtool
counter will always read 0 on XGMAC2 devices. This behaviour is already
inconsistent across DWMAC core versions.
Remove RBUE from XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_EN and XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_RX
to prevent the interrupt storm while keeping normal RX handling intact.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Linux | Linux | affected |
|
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Advisories
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Fixes
Solution
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Workaround
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References
History
Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: stmmac: xgmac2: disable RBUE in default RX interrupt mask Enabling the RX Buffer Unavailable (RBUE) interrupt is counterproductive and can trigger a MAC interrupt storm under heavy RX pressure. When the DMA runs out of RX descriptors it fires RBUE continuously until software refills the ring. However, RBUE is redundant: the normal RX completion interrupt (RIE) already triggers NAPI, which processes completed descriptors and refills the ring, causing the DMA to resume. The RBUE handler itself only sets handle_rx - the same outcome as RIE. On Agilex5 under heavy RX pressure, the MAC interrupt (which includes RBUE) was observed firing 1,821,811,555 times against only 2,618,627 actual RX completions - a ~695x ratio - confirming the severity of the storm. RBUE does not provide OOM recovery. If page_pool is exhausted, stmmac_rx_refill() cannot advance the DMA tail pointer, the DMA stays suspended, and RBUE fires again on the next NAPI completion - a storm with no forward progress. This patch trades that storm for a clean stall with the same RX outcome. Proper OOM recovery is a pre-existing gap outside the scope of this fix. Note: as a consequence of disabling RBUE, the rx_buf_unav_irq ethtool counter will always read 0 on XGMAC2 devices. This behaviour is already inconsistent across DWMAC core versions. Remove RBUE from XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_EN and XGMAC_DMA_INT_DEFAULT_RX to prevent the interrupt storm while keeping normal RX handling intact. | |
| Title | net: stmmac: xgmac2: disable RBUE in default RX interrupt mask | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-09-24T16:03:12.818Z
Reserved: 2026-09-18T17:59:28.793Z
Link: CVE-2026-93830
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-09-24T17:17:16.740
Modified: 2026-09-24T17:17:16.740
Link: CVE-2026-93830
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.