The invention discloses a CAM table operating method and a CAM table operating device, which relate to the field of Internet technologies, and solve the problem that the existing multi-core competition reduces the efficiency of data forwarding in a multi-core forwarding system. The CAM table operating method comprises the steps that: a CAM table configuration kernel receives CAM table configuration messages sent by a kernel mode process and a user mode process, a CAM table is independent resources of the CAM table configuration kernel, the CAM table configuration messages are messages for updating the CAM table, and the CAM table configuration kernel operates in a user mode; and the CAM table is configured according to the CAM table configuration messages. The CAM table operating method and the CAM table operating device are applied to a data forwarding system of a multi-core heterogeneous platform.