From: Zero Mark <patzilla007@gmail.com>
To: Willem de Bruijn <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>
Cc: security@kernel.org, "David S . Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>,
Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
netdev@vger.kernel.org, Zero Mark <patzilla007@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH] net/packet: fix TOCTOU race on mmap'd vnet_hdr in tpacket_snd()
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:07:14 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260417060714.35488-1-patzilla007@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAHOBGNBvZOXGzzMDuHWw1RrRvbg4TZVH34jVDhc1nkHbW_URXA@mail.gmail.com>
In tpacket_snd(), when PACKET_VNET_HDR is enabled, vnet_hdr points
directly into the mmap'd TX ring buffer shared with userspace. The
kernel validates the header via __packet_snd_vnet_parse() but then
re-reads all fields later in virtio_net_hdr_to_skb(). A concurrent
userspace thread can modify the vnet_hdr fields (gso_type, gso_size,
flags, csum_start, csum_offset) between validation and use, bypassing
all safety checks.
This can lead to:
- Out-of-bounds checksum writes via crafted csum_start/csum_offset
- Malicious GSO segmentation parameters
- Kernel memory corruption and potential local privilege escalation
The non-TPACKET path (packet_snd()) already correctly copies vnet_hdr
to a stack-local variable. All other vnet_hdr consumers in the kernel
(tun.c, tap.c, virtio_net.c) also use stack copies. The TPACKET TX
path is the only caller of virtio_net_hdr_to_skb() that reads directly
from user-controlled shared memory.
Fix this by copying vnet_hdr from the mmap'd ring buffer to a
stack-local variable before validation and use, consistent with the
approach used in packet_snd() and all other callers.
Exploitation requires CAP_NET_RAW, which can be obtained without
special privileges via user namespaces.
Confirmed with a PoC on Linux 6.8.0 (Ubuntu): kprobe tracing on
skb_partial_csum_set captured 77 race wins in 500,000 iterations.
Affects all kernels since PACKET_VNET_HDR support was added to the
TPACKET TX path (~v3.14).
Fixes: 9ed988e5 ("packet: add vnet_hdr support for tpacket_snd")
Signed-off-by: Zero Mark <patzilla007@gmail.com>
---
net/packet/af_packet.c | 14 ++++++++------
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/packet/af_packet.c b/net/packet/af_packet.c
index abcdef012345..fedcba654321 100644
--- a/net/packet/af_packet.c
+++ b/net/packet/af_packet.c
@@ -2725,7 +2725,8 @@ static int tpacket_parse_header(struct packet_sock *po, void *frame,
static int tpacket_snd(struct packet_sock *po, struct msghdr *msg)
{
struct sk_buff *skb = NULL;
struct net_device *dev;
- struct virtio_net_hdr *vnet_hdr = NULL;
+ struct virtio_net_hdr vnet_hdr;
+ bool has_vnet_hdr = false;
struct sockcm_cookie sockc;
__be16 proto;
int err, reserve = 0;
@@ -2828,16 +2829,17 @@ static int tpacket_snd(struct packet_sock *po, struct msghdr *msg)
if (po->has_vnet_hdr) {
- vnet_hdr = data;
- data += sizeof(*vnet_hdr);
- tp_len -= sizeof(*vnet_hdr);
+ memcpy(&vnet_hdr, data, sizeof(vnet_hdr));
+ data += sizeof(vnet_hdr);
+ tp_len -= sizeof(vnet_hdr);
if (tp_len < 0 ||
- __packet_snd_vnet_parse(vnet_hdr, tp_len)) {
+ __packet_snd_vnet_parse(&vnet_hdr, tp_len)) {
tp_len = -EINVAL;
goto tpacket_error;
}
copylen = __virtio16_to_cpu(vio_le(),
- vnet_hdr->hdr_len);
+ vnet_hdr.hdr_len);
+ has_vnet_hdr = true;
}
copylen = max_t(int, copylen, dev->hard_header_len);
skb = sock_alloc_send_skb(&po->sk,
@@ -2875,11 +2877,11 @@ static int tpacket_snd(struct packet_sock *po, struct msghdr *msg)
}
- if (po->has_vnet_hdr) {
- if (virtio_net_hdr_to_skb(skb, vnet_hdr, vio_le())) {
+ if (has_vnet_hdr) {
+ if (virtio_net_hdr_to_skb(skb, &vnet_hdr, vio_le())) {
tp_len = -EINVAL;
goto tpacket_error;
}
- virtio_net_hdr_set_proto(skb, vnet_hdr);
+ virtio_net_hdr_set_proto(skb, &vnet_hdr);
}
skb->destructor = tpacket_destruct_skb;
--
2.43.0
next parent reply other threads:[~2026-04-17 6:08 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <CAHOBGNBvZOXGzzMDuHWw1RrRvbg4TZVH34jVDhc1nkHbW_URXA@mail.gmail.com>
2026-04-17 6:07 ` Zero Mark [this message]
2026-04-17 8:15 ` [PATCH] net/packet: fix TOCTOU race on mmap'd vnet_hdr in tpacket_snd() Willem de Bruijn
2026-04-17 13:36 ` [PATCH net] " Zero Mark
2026-04-17 20:01 ` Willem de Bruijn
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