[PATCH net] l2tp: send netlink notifications in the tunnel's net namespace

[PATCH net] l2tp: send netlink notifications in the tunnel's net namespace

[Maoyi Xie]

l2tp_tunnel_notify() and l2tp_session_notify() use
genlmsg_multicast_allns(), which delivers to listeners in every network
namespace. l2tp is per-namespace, and a tunnel records the namespace it
belongs to in tunnel->l2tp_net. Each event concerns one namespace, yet
every namespace is told about it. A tunnel event carries the tunnel and
peer tunnel ids, plus the socket's addresses with both ports for a UDP
tunnel. A session event carries the session and peer session ids, the
interface name, plus the L2TP cookies where those are set. A listener
needs no privilege for any of this, because l2tp_multicast_group[]
carries no flags and genl_bind() asks for no capability.

The fix is to send to the tunnel's namespace with
genlmsg_multicast_netns(). Commit 134e63756d5f ("genetlink: make netns
aware") added both helpers and drew the line between them. The netns
variant is for an object that lives in a namespace.

I found this by auditing the tree's six genlmsg_multicast_allns() call
sites for objects that live in a network namespace. Only the two l2tp
ones do.

I reproduced it on net at dd057113ac7b, in a virtual machine, with no
real hardware involved. A process in the initial namespace, running as
an ordinary user with an empty capability set, receives the create and
delete events of a tunnel. The tunnel was set up inside an unprivileged
user and network namespace. tools/testing/selftests/net/l2tp.sh passes
before and after.

On a container host, any local user and every other tenant can read a
tenant's tunnel parameters.

Fixes: 33f72e6f0c67 ("l2tp : multicast notification to the registered listeners")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Maoyi Xie <maoyixie.tju@gmail.com>
---
 net/l2tp/l2tp_netlink.c | 7 +++++--
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_netlink.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_netlink.c
index 59457c0c14aab..c0c4d1ebc7a3e 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_netlink.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_netlink.c
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@ static int l2tp_tunnel_notify(struct genl_family *family,
 				  NLM_F_ACK, tunnel, cmd);
 
 	if (ret >= 0) {
-		ret = genlmsg_multicast_allns(family, msg, 0, 0);
+		ret = genlmsg_multicast_netns(family, tunnel->l2tp_net, msg,
+					      0, 0, GFP_KERNEL);
 		/* We don't care if no one is listening */
 		if (ret == -ESRCH)
 			ret = 0;
@@ -144,7 +145,9 @@ static int l2tp_session_notify(struct genl_family *family,
 				   NLM_F_ACK, session, cmd);
 
 	if (ret >= 0) {
-		ret = genlmsg_multicast_allns(family, msg, 0, 0);
+		ret = genlmsg_multicast_netns(family,
+					      session->tunnel->l2tp_net, msg,
+					      0, 0, GFP_KERNEL);
 		/* We don't care if no one is listening */
 		if (ret == -ESRCH)
 			ret = 0;

Re: [PATCH net] l2tp: send netlink notifications in the tunnel's net namespace

[Simon Horman]

On Sun, Aug 09, 2026 at 05:42:52PM +0800, Maoyi Xie wrote:
> l2tp_tunnel_notify() and l2tp_session_notify() use
> genlmsg_multicast_allns(), which delivers to listeners in every network
> namespace. l2tp is per-namespace, and a tunnel records the namespace it
> belongs to in tunnel->l2tp_net. Each event concerns one namespace, yet
> every namespace is told about it. A tunnel event carries the tunnel and
> peer tunnel ids, plus the socket's addresses with both ports for a UDP
> tunnel. A session event carries the session and peer session ids, the
> interface name, plus the L2TP cookies where those are set. A listener
> needs no privilege for any of this, because l2tp_multicast_group[]
> carries no flags and genl_bind() asks for no capability.
> 
> The fix is to send to the tunnel's namespace with
> genlmsg_multicast_netns(). Commit 134e63756d5f ("genetlink: make netns
> aware") added both helpers and drew the line between them. The netns
> variant is for an object that lives in a namespace.
> 
> I found this by auditing the tree's six genlmsg_multicast_allns() call
> sites for objects that live in a network namespace. Only the two l2tp
> ones do.
> 
> I reproduced it on net at dd057113ac7b, in a virtual machine, with no
> real hardware involved. A process in the initial namespace, running as
> an ordinary user with an empty capability set, receives the create and
> delete events of a tunnel. The tunnel was set up inside an unprivileged
> user and network namespace. tools/testing/selftests/net/l2tp.sh passes
> before and after.
> 
> On a container host, any local user and every other tenant can read a
> tenant's tunnel parameters.
> 
> Fixes: 33f72e6f0c67 ("l2tp : multicast notification to the registered listeners")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Maoyi Xie <maoyixie.tju@gmail.com>

Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>

FTR, I don't think the issues flagged by Sashiko [1] should
block progress of this patch. But you may want to look into
them in the context of possible follow-up.

[1] https://netdev-ai.bots.linux.dev/sashiko/#/patchset/20260809094252.2107242-1-maoyixie.tju%40gmail.com