[PATCH net] arp: do not assume dev_hard_header() does not change skb->head

[PATCH net] arp: do not assume dev_hard_header() does not change skb->head

[Eric Dumazet]

arp_create() is the only dev_hard_header() caller
making assumption about skb->head being unchanged.

A recent commit broke this assumption.

Initialize @arp pointer after dev_hard_header() call.

Fixes: db5b4e39c4e6 ("ip6_gre: make ip6gre_header() robust")
Reported-by: syzbot+58b44a770a1585795351@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
---
 net/ipv4/arp.c | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv4/arp.c b/net/ipv4/arp.c
index 7f3863daaa407624359e8309cf9d661e1cdb03ac..c8c3e1713c0ede6dee1e4ae795a66d26bb534c43 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/arp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/arp.c
@@ -564,7 +564,7 @@ struct sk_buff *arp_create(int type, int ptype, __be32 dest_ip,
 
 	skb_reserve(skb, hlen);
 	skb_reset_network_header(skb);
-	arp = skb_put(skb, arp_hdr_len(dev));
+	skb_put(skb, arp_hdr_len(dev));
 	skb->dev = dev;
 	skb->protocol = htons(ETH_P_ARP);
 	if (!src_hw)
@@ -572,12 +572,13 @@ struct sk_buff *arp_create(int type, int ptype, __be32 dest_ip,
 	if (!dest_hw)
 		dest_hw = dev->broadcast;
 
-	/*
-	 *	Fill the device header for the ARP frame
+	/* Fill the device header for the ARP frame.
+	 * Note: skb->head can be changed.
 	 */
 	if (dev_hard_header(skb, dev, ptype, dest_hw, src_hw, skb->len) < 0)
 		goto out;
 
+	arp = arp_hdr(skb);
 	/*
 	 * Fill out the arp protocol part.
 	 *
-- 
2.52.0.351.gbe84eed79e-goog

Re: [PATCH net] arp: do not assume dev_hard_header() does not change skb->head

[patchwork-bot+netdevbpf]

Hello:

This patch was applied to netdev/net.git (main)
by Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>:

On Wed,  7 Jan 2026 21:22:50 +0000 you wrote:
> arp_create() is the only dev_hard_header() caller
> making assumption about skb->head being unchanged.
> 
> A recent commit broke this assumption.
> 
> Initialize @arp pointer after dev_hard_header() call.
> 
> [...]

Here is the summary with links:
  - [net] arp: do not assume dev_hard_header() does not change skb->head
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net/c/c92510f5e3f8

You are awesome, thank you!
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