In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: qla2xxx: Fix soft lockup polling continuation IOCB signature qla27xx_copy_multiple_pkt() and qla27xx_copy_fpin_pkt() poll rsp_q->ring_ptr->signature for RESPONSE…

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

scsi: qla2xxx: Fix soft lockup polling continuation IOCB signature

qla27xx_copy_multiple_pkt() and qla27xx_copy_fpin_pkt() poll rsp_q->ring_ptr->signature for RESPONSE_PROCESSED (0xDEADDEAD) to decide whether the next continuation IOCB has arrived, spinning on cpu_relax() without advancing the ring or decrementing the entry count while it has not. response_t::signature lives at byte offset 60, but a continuation IOCB (sts_cont_entry_t / struct sts_cont_entry_ext) carries raw FC frame payload at that offset (data[56..59]). A received frame whose payload bytes happen to equal 0xDEADDEAD is therefore misread as "not yet arrived", and the loop spins forever in interrupt/DPC context, causing a CPU soft lockup.

The poll is also unnecessary: callers of qla27xx_copy_multiple_pkt() (PT_LS4_UNSOL and the NVMe purls path) already gate on qla_chk_cont_iocb_avail(), which guarantees all entry_count IOCBs are present before copying begins. The sibling helper __qla_copy_purex_to_buffer() already drops the signature poll and relies on the entry_type == STATUS_CONT_TYPE guard instead.

Remove the signature busy-wait from both helpers, keeping the entry_type guard, and gate the FPIN path with qla_chk_cont_iocb_avail() so it defers and re-processes on the next interrupt once all continuation IOCBs have arrived, mirroring the ELS_AUTH_ELS and PT_LS4_UNSOL arms. With this the signature field is never read on a continuation IOCB, eliminating the payload-aliasing lockup.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

Vendor advisories

• Red Hat VEX · Low · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, … · updated 2026-10-17 · vex