[PATCH net 2/2] selftests/net: packetdrill: cover challenge ACK on SEG.ACK > SND.NXT

Jiayuan Chen
2026-04-20T02:55:19Z

Exercise the RFC 5961 Section 5.2 / RFC 793 Section 3.9 requirement
on the upper edge of the acceptable ACK range, mirroring the existing
coverage of the SEG.ACK < SND.UNA - MAX.SND.WND case.

After the peer ACKs data the receiver has never sent, the receiver
must respond with <SEQ = SND.NXT, ACK = RCV.NXT, CTL = ACK> and drop
the offending segment. The script validates this exact response.

Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
---
.../tcp_rfc5961_ack-beyond-snd-nxt.pkt | 31 +++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 31 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/tcp_rfc5961_ack-beyond-snd-nxt.pkt

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/tcp_rfc5961_ack-beyond-snd-nxt.pkt b/tools/testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/tcp_rfc5961_ack-beyond-snd-nxt.pkt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..29d61a98d5ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/tcp_rfc5961_ack-beyond-snd-nxt.pkt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+//
+// RFC 5961 Section 5.2 / RFC 793 Section 3.9: when a received
+// segment's SEG.ACK acknowledges data we have never sent
+// (SEG.ACK > SND.NXT), the receiver MUST discard the segment and
+// send a challenge ACK back.
+//
+// Complement the existing mitigation for the symmetric
+// (SEG.ACK < SND.UNA - MAX.SND.WND) case.
+
+`./defaults.sh`
+
+ // Open listener socket
+ 0 socket(..., SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP) = 3
+ +0 setsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, [1], 4) = 0
+ +0 bind(3, ..., ...) = 0
+ +0 listen(3, 1) = 0
+
+ // Three-way handshake
+ +0 < S 0:0(0) win 32792 <mss 1000,sackOK,nop,nop,nop,wscale 7>
+ +0 > S. 0:0(0) ack 1 <...>
+ +.1 < . 1:1(0) ack 1 win 257
+ +0 accept(3, ..., ...) = 4
+
+ // Server has sent no data yet: SND.UNA = SND.NXT = 1, RCV.NXT = 1.
+ // Peer sends a pure ACK with SEG.ACK = 2, which is > SND.NXT.
+ +0 < . 1:1(0) ack 2 win 257
+
+ // Expect an immediate challenge ACK:
+ // <SEQ = SND.NXT = 1, ACK = RCV.NXT = 1, CTL = ACK>
+ +0 > . 1:1(0) ack 1
--
2.43.0