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 a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox