From: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
To: kuba@kernel.org
Cc: edumazet@google.com, dsahern@kernel.org, tom@herbertland.com,
willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com, idosch@nvidia.com,
justin.iurman@gmail.com, pabeni@redhat.com,
netdev@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH net v2] ipv6: Implement limits on extension header parsing
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2026 09:55:21 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260425075521.736328-1-daniel@iogearbox.net> (raw)
ipv6_{skip_exthdr,find_hdr}() and ip6_{tnl_parse_tlv_enc_lim,
protocol_deliver_rcu}() iterate over IPv6 extension headers until they
find a non-extension-header protocol or run out of packet data. The
loops have no iteration counter, relying solely on the packet length
to bound them. For a crafted packet with 8-byte extension headers
filling a 64KB jumbogram, this means a worst case of up to ~8k
iterations with a skb_header_pointer call each. ipv6_skip_exthdr(),
for example, is used where it parses the inner quoted packet inside
an incoming ICMPv6 error:
- icmpv6_rcv
- checksum validation
- case ICMPV6_DEST_UNREACH
- icmpv6_notify
- pskb_may_pull() <- pull inner IPv6 header
- ipv6_skip_exthdr() <- iterates here
- pskb_may_pull()
- ipprot->err_handler() <- sk lookup
The per-iteration cost of ipv6_skip_exthdr itself is generally
light, but skb_header_pointer becomes more costly on reassembled
packets: the first ~1232 bytes of the inner packet are in the skb's
linear area, but the remaining ~63KB are in the frag_list where
skb_copy_bits is needed to read data.
Add a configurable limit via a new sysctl net.ipv6.max_ext_hdrs_number
(default 8, minimum 1). All four extension header walking functions
are bound by this limit. The sysctl is in line with commit 47d3d7ac656a
("ipv6: Implement limits on Hop-by-Hop and Destination options").
As documented, init_net is used to derive max_ext_hdrs_number to
be consistent given a net cannot always reliably be retrieved.
Note that the check in ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu() happens right
before the goto resubmit, such that we don't have to have a test
for ipv6_ext_hdr() in the fast-path.
There's an ongoing IETF draft-iurman-6man-eh-occurrences to enforce
IPv6 extension headers ordering and occurrence. The latter also
discusses security implications. As per RFC8200 section 4.1, the
occurrence rules for extension headers provide a practical upper
bound, thus 8 was used as the default.
Signed-off-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
---
v1->v2:
- Set the default to 8 (Justin)
- Update IETF references (Justin)
- Add core path coverage as well (Justin)
Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst | 7 +++++++
include/net/dropreason-core.h | 6 ++++++
include/net/ipv6.h | 2 ++
include/net/netns/ipv6.h | 1 +
net/ipv6/af_inet6.c | 1 +
net/ipv6/exthdrs_core.c | 11 +++++++++++
net/ipv6/ip6_input.c | 6 ++++++
net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c | 5 +++++
net/ipv6/sysctl_net_ipv6.c | 8 ++++++++
9 files changed, 47 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
index 2e3a746fcc6d..f7412f4049d1 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
@@ -2537,6 +2537,13 @@ max_hbh_length - INTEGER
Default: INT_MAX (unlimited)
+max_ext_hdrs_number - INTEGER
+ Maximum number of IPv6 extension headers allowed in a packet.
+ Limits how many extension headers will be traversed. The value
+ is read from the initial netns.
+
+ Default: 8
+
skip_notify_on_dev_down - BOOLEAN
Controls whether an RTM_DELROUTE message is generated for routes
removed when a device is taken down or deleted. IPv4 does not
diff --git a/include/net/dropreason-core.h b/include/net/dropreason-core.h
index e0ca3904ff8e..1fd91e59b84e 100644
--- a/include/net/dropreason-core.h
+++ b/include/net/dropreason-core.h
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@
FN(FRAG_TOO_FAR) \
FN(TCP_MINTTL) \
FN(IPV6_BAD_EXTHDR) \
+ FN(IPV6_TOO_MANY_EXTHDRS) \
FN(IPV6_NDISC_FRAG) \
FN(IPV6_NDISC_HOP_LIMIT) \
FN(IPV6_NDISC_BAD_CODE) \
@@ -494,6 +495,11 @@ enum skb_drop_reason {
SKB_DROP_REASON_TCP_MINTTL,
/** @SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_BAD_EXTHDR: Bad IPv6 extension header. */
SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_BAD_EXTHDR,
+ /**
+ * @SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_TOO_MANY_EXTHDRS: Number of IPv6 extension
+ * headers in the packet exceeds net.ipv6.max_ext_hdrs_number.
+ */
+ SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_TOO_MANY_EXTHDRS,
/** @SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_NDISC_FRAG: invalid frag (suppress_frag_ndisc). */
SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_NDISC_FRAG,
/** @SKB_DROP_REASON_IPV6_NDISC_HOP_LIMIT: invalid hop limit. */
diff --git a/include/net/ipv6.h b/include/net/ipv6.h
index d042afe7a245..c540b750726e 100644
--- a/include/net/ipv6.h
+++ b/include/net/ipv6.h
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ struct ip_tunnel_info;
#define IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_DST_OPTS_LEN INT_MAX /* No limit */
#define IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_HBH_OPTS_LEN INT_MAX /* No limit */
+#define IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_EXT_HDRS_CNT 8
+
/*
* Addr type
*
diff --git a/include/net/netns/ipv6.h b/include/net/netns/ipv6.h
index 499e4288170f..2cea457bddb4 100644
--- a/include/net/netns/ipv6.h
+++ b/include/net/netns/ipv6.h
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ struct netns_sysctl_ipv6 {
int max_hbh_opts_cnt;
int max_dst_opts_len;
int max_hbh_opts_len;
+ int max_ext_hdrs_cnt;
int seg6_flowlabel;
u32 ioam6_id;
u64 ioam6_id_wide;
diff --git a/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c b/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c
index 0a88b376141d..19424c3f2dfc 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c
@@ -945,6 +945,7 @@ static int __net_init inet6_net_init(struct net *net)
net->ipv6.sysctl.flowlabel_state_ranges = 0;
net->ipv6.sysctl.max_dst_opts_cnt = IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_DST_OPTS_CNT;
net->ipv6.sysctl.max_hbh_opts_cnt = IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_HBH_OPTS_CNT;
+ net->ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt = IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_EXT_HDRS_CNT;
net->ipv6.sysctl.max_dst_opts_len = IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_DST_OPTS_LEN;
net->ipv6.sysctl.max_hbh_opts_len = IP6_DEFAULT_MAX_HBH_OPTS_LEN;
net->ipv6.sysctl.fib_notify_on_flag_change = 0;
diff --git a/net/ipv6/exthdrs_core.c b/net/ipv6/exthdrs_core.c
index 49e31e4ae7b7..9df892e7f7fb 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/exthdrs_core.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/exthdrs_core.c
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
* not configured or static.
*/
#include <linux/export.h>
+
+#include <net/net_namespace.h>
#include <net/ipv6.h>
/*
@@ -72,7 +74,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(ipv6_ext_hdr);
int ipv6_skip_exthdr(const struct sk_buff *skb, int start, u8 *nexthdrp,
__be16 *frag_offp)
{
+ int exthdr_max = READ_ONCE(init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt);
u8 nexthdr = *nexthdrp;
+ int exthdr_cnt = 0;
*frag_offp = 0;
@@ -82,6 +86,8 @@ int ipv6_skip_exthdr(const struct sk_buff *skb, int start, u8 *nexthdrp,
if (nexthdr == NEXTHDR_NONE)
return -1;
+ if (unlikely(exthdr_cnt++ >= exthdr_max))
+ return -1;
hp = skb_header_pointer(skb, start, sizeof(_hdr), &_hdr);
if (!hp)
return -1;
@@ -188,8 +194,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(ipv6_find_tlv);
int ipv6_find_hdr(const struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int *offset,
int target, unsigned short *fragoff, int *flags)
{
+ int exthdr_max = READ_ONCE(init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt);
unsigned int start = skb_network_offset(skb) + sizeof(struct ipv6hdr);
u8 nexthdr = ipv6_hdr(skb)->nexthdr;
+ int exthdr_cnt = 0;
bool found;
if (fragoff)
@@ -216,6 +224,9 @@ int ipv6_find_hdr(const struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int *offset,
return -ENOENT;
}
+ if (unlikely(exthdr_cnt++ >= exthdr_max))
+ return -EBADMSG;
+
hp = skb_header_pointer(skb, start, sizeof(_hdr), &_hdr);
if (!hp)
return -EBADMSG;
diff --git a/net/ipv6/ip6_input.c b/net/ipv6/ip6_input.c
index 967b07aeb683..a5bbbc16e8d7 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/ip6_input.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/ip6_input.c
@@ -403,8 +403,10 @@ INDIRECT_CALLABLE_DECLARE(int tcp_v6_rcv(struct sk_buff *));
void ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu(struct net *net, struct sk_buff *skb, int nexthdr,
bool have_final)
{
+ int exthdr_max = READ_ONCE(init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt);
const struct inet6_protocol *ipprot;
struct inet6_dev *idev;
+ int exthdr_cnt = 0;
unsigned int nhoff;
SKB_DR(reason);
bool raw;
@@ -487,6 +489,10 @@ void ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu(struct net *net, struct sk_buff *skb, int nexthdr,
nexthdr = ret;
goto resubmit_final;
} else {
+ if (unlikely(exthdr_cnt++ >= exthdr_max)) {
+ SKB_DR_SET(reason, IPV6_TOO_MANY_EXTHDRS);
+ goto discard;
+ }
goto resubmit;
}
} else if (ret == 0) {
diff --git a/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c b/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
index c468c83af0f2..4546a60942ab 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c
@@ -395,15 +395,20 @@ ip6_tnl_dev_uninit(struct net_device *dev)
__u16 ip6_tnl_parse_tlv_enc_lim(struct sk_buff *skb, __u8 *raw)
{
+ int exthdr_max = READ_ONCE(init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt);
const struct ipv6hdr *ipv6h = (const struct ipv6hdr *)raw;
unsigned int nhoff = raw - skb->data;
unsigned int off = nhoff + sizeof(*ipv6h);
u8 nexthdr = ipv6h->nexthdr;
+ int exthdr_cnt = 0;
while (ipv6_ext_hdr(nexthdr) && nexthdr != NEXTHDR_NONE) {
struct ipv6_opt_hdr *hdr;
u16 optlen;
+ if (unlikely(exthdr_cnt++ >= exthdr_max))
+ break;
+
if (!pskb_may_pull(skb, off + sizeof(*hdr)))
break;
diff --git a/net/ipv6/sysctl_net_ipv6.c b/net/ipv6/sysctl_net_ipv6.c
index d2cd33e2698d..93f865545a7c 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/sysctl_net_ipv6.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/sysctl_net_ipv6.c
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ static struct ctl_table ipv6_table_template[] = {
.extra1 = SYSCTL_ZERO,
.extra2 = &flowlabel_reflect_max,
},
+ {
+ .procname = "max_ext_hdrs_number",
+ .data = &init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_ext_hdrs_cnt,
+ .maxlen = sizeof(int),
+ .mode = 0644,
+ .proc_handler = proc_dointvec_minmax,
+ .extra1 = SYSCTL_ONE,
+ },
{
.procname = "max_dst_opts_number",
.data = &init_net.ipv6.sysctl.max_dst_opts_cnt,
--
2.43.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-04-25 7:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-04-25 7:55 Daniel Borkmann [this message]
2026-04-25 10:19 ` [PATCH net v2] ipv6: Implement limits on extension header parsing Justin Iurman
2026-04-26 10:38 ` Daniel Borkmann
2026-04-26 10:56 ` saeed bishara
2026-04-26 13:17 ` Ido Schimmel
2026-04-26 15:47 ` Justin Iurman
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