From: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
To: netdev@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>,
Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
Neal Cardwell <ncardwell@google.com>,
Kuniyuki Iwashima <kuniyu@google.com>,
"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
David Ahern <dsahern@kernel.org>,
Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>, Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>,
Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>, Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH net 1/2] tcp: send a challenge ACK on SEG.ACK > SND.NXT
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:54:08 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260420025428.101192-2-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260420025428.101192-1-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
RFC 5961 Section 5.2 validates an incoming segment's ACK value
against the range [SND.UNA - MAX.SND.WND, SND.NXT] and states:
"All incoming segments whose ACK value doesn't satisfy the above
condition MUST be discarded and an ACK sent back."
Commit 354e4aa391ed ("tcp: RFC 5961 5.2 Blind Data Injection Attack
Mitigation") opted Linux into this mitigation and implements the
challenge ACK on the lower side (SEG.ACK < SND.UNA - MAX.SND.WND),
but the symmetric upper side (SEG.ACK > SND.NXT) still takes the
pre-RFC-5961 path and silently returns
SKB_DROP_REASON_TCP_ACK_UNSENT_DATA, even though RFC 793 Section 3.9
(now RFC 9293 Section 3.10.7.4) has always required:
"If the ACK acknowledges something not yet sent (SEG.ACK > SND.NXT)
then send an ACK, drop the segment, and return."
Complete the mitigation by sending a challenge ACK on that branch,
reusing the existing tcp_send_challenge_ack() path which already
enforces the per-socket RFC 5961 Section 7 rate limit via
__tcp_oow_rate_limited(). FLAG_NO_CHALLENGE_ACK is honoured for
symmetry with the lower-edge case.
Fixes: 354e4aa391ed ("tcp: RFC 5961 5.2 Blind Data Injection Attack Mitigation")
Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
---
I'm not sure if 'blamed commit' is appropriate, because I think
it's due to missing parts of the implementation, or it might be
directly targeted to net-next.
---
net/ipv4/tcp_input.c | 10 +++++++---
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
index 021f745747c5..c2b6f05acdfa 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
@@ -4284,11 +4284,15 @@ static int tcp_ack(struct sock *sk, const struct sk_buff *skb, int flag)
goto old_ack;
}
- /* If the ack includes data we haven't sent yet, discard
- * this segment (RFC793 Section 3.9).
+ /* If the ack includes data we haven't sent yet, drop the
+ * segment. RFC 793 Section 3.9 and RFC 5961 Section 5.2
+ * require us to send an ACK back in that case.
*/
- if (after(ack, tp->snd_nxt))
+ if (after(ack, tp->snd_nxt)) {
+ if (!(flag & FLAG_NO_CHALLENGE_ACK))
+ tcp_send_challenge_ack(sk, false);
return -SKB_DROP_REASON_TCP_ACK_UNSENT_DATA;
+ }
if (after(ack, prior_snd_una)) {
flag |= FLAG_SND_UNA_ADVANCED;
--
2.43.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-04-20 2:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-04-20 2:54 [PATCH net 0/2] tcp: symmetric challenge ACK for SEG.ACK > SND.NXT Jiayuan Chen
2026-04-20 2:54 ` Jiayuan Chen [this message]
2026-04-20 7:21 ` [PATCH net 1/2] tcp: send a challenge ACK on " Eric Dumazet
2026-04-20 2:54 ` [PATCH net 2/2] selftests/net: packetdrill: cover " Jiayuan Chen
2026-04-20 7:22 ` Eric Dumazet
2026-04-20 15:24 ` [PATCH net 0/2] tcp: symmetric challenge ACK for " Jakub Kicinski
2026-04-20 15:38 ` Jiayuan Chen
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260420025428.101192-2-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev \
--to=jiayuan.chen@linux.dev \
--cc=davem@davemloft.net \
--cc=dsahern@kernel.org \
--cc=edumazet@google.com \
--cc=horms@kernel.org \
--cc=kuba@kernel.org \
--cc=kuniyu@google.com \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=ncardwell@google.com \
--cc=netdev@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=pabeni@redhat.com \
--cc=shuah@kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.