[PATCH 6.1 124/232] net: Add skb_dstref_steal and skb_dstref_restore

Sasha Levin
2026-02-28T18:13:14Z

From: Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@fomichev.me>

[ Upstream commit c3f0c02997c7f8489fec259e28e0e04e9811edac ]

Going forward skb_dst_set will assert that skb dst_entry
is empty during skb_dst_set to prevent potential leaks. There
are few places that still manually manage dst_entry not using
the helpers. Convert them to the following new helpers:
- skb_dstref_steal that resets dst_entry and returns previous dst_entry
value
- skb_dstref_restore that restores dst_entry previously reset via
skb_dstref_steal

Signed-off-by: Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@fomichev.me>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20250818154032.3173645-2-sdf@fomichev.me
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Stable-dep-of: 81b84de32bb2 ("xfrm: fix ip_rt_bug race in icmp_route_lookup reverse path")
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
include/linux/skbuff.h | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 32 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
index 9a04a188b9f8e..af868e03b7dc8 100644
--- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
+++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
@@ -1119,6 +1119,38 @@ static inline struct dst_entry *skb_dst(const struct sk_buff *skb)
return (struct dst_entry *)(skb->_skb_refdst & SKB_DST_PTRMASK);
}

+/**
+ * skb_dstref_steal() - return current dst_entry value and clear it
+ * @skb: buffer
+ *
+ * Resets skb dst_entry without adjusting its reference count. Useful in
+ * cases where dst_entry needs to be temporarily reset and restored.
+ * Note that the returned value cannot be used directly because it
+ * might contain SKB_DST_NOREF bit.
+ *
+ * When in doubt, prefer skb_dst_drop() over skb_dstref_steal() to correctly
+ * handle dst_entry reference counting.
+ *
+ * Returns: original skb dst_entry.
+ */
+static inline unsigned long skb_dstref_steal(struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+ unsigned long refdst = skb->_skb_refdst;
+
+ skb->_skb_refdst = 0;
+ return refdst;
+}
+
+/**
+ * skb_dstref_restore() - restore skb dst_entry removed via skb_dstref_steal()
+ * @skb: buffer
+ * @refdst: dst entry from a call to skb_dstref_steal()
+ */
+static inline void skb_dstref_restore(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned long refdst)
+{
+ skb->_skb_refdst = refdst;
+}
+
/**
* skb_dst_set - sets skb dst
* @skb: buffer
--
2.51.0