From: Willem de Bruijn <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>
To: "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "Willem de Bruijn" <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>,
"Chris Arges" <carges@cloudflare.com>,
"Björn Töpel" <bjorn@kernel.org>, "Phil Sutter" <phil@nwl.cc>,
"Jason Wang" <jasowangio@gmail.com>,
"Eugenio Pérez" <eperezma@redhat.com>,
"Xuan Zhuo" <xuanzhuo@linux.alibaba.com>,
"Andrew Lunn" <andrew+netdev@lunn.ch>,
"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
"Eric Dumazet" <edumazet@kernel.org>,
"Jakub Kicinski" <kuba@kernel.org>,
"Paolo Abeni" <pabeni@redhat.com>,
netdev@vger.kernel.org, virtualization@lists.linux.dev,
"Max Krasnyansky" <maxk@qualcomm.com>,
"Rusty Russell" <rusty@rustcorp.com.au>,
"Paulos Yibelo" <habte.yibelo@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC v7 4/5] net: resolve uncommon partial checksums at ingress
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:21:57 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <willemdebruijn.kernel.10a41a35b45f6@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <93d0e37c99711bebdf60c120af03010455c2f2e2.1793276116.git.mst@redhat.com>
Michael S. Tsirkin wrote:
> As reported first by Paulos Yibelo <habte.yibelo@gmail.com> (after which
> others, credited below, found more ways the bug can affect users) a
> virtio net header can place CHECKSUM_PARTIAL at any in-packet offset.
> If that state is retained, later checksum completion can modify the
> packet after protocol processing has made decisions from it.
>
> Let's fix that: let's validate csum_start and csum_offset and only keep
> CHECKSUM_PARTIAL when csum_start and csum_offset match a parsed TCP or
> UDP header, while handling VLAN headers, IPv4 options and IPv6 extension
> headers. Complete other non-GSO checksums immediately, before any
> protocol processing runs.
>
> We can't easily "complete the checksum" for GSO we don't recognize - GSO
> assumes knowledge of the protocol. We could segment ignoring the
> checksum then do whatever csum_start and csum_offset say, but that
> seems like an overkill for something that shouldn't happen.
>
> There's some risk here:
> - non-gso packets which can't be parsed get checksum calculated in
> software, adding performance overhead
> - gso packets which can't be parsed get dropped
>
> Note that for zero copy, userspace can change the data after the
> checksum has been calculated. This is fundamental to zero copy by
> design, and the only outcome is a bad checksum and a packet drop.
>
> To mitigate the risks, the following patch will add a sysctl knob to
> bypass the resolution. This is reasonable if the setup is such that
> there is no protocol processing at all.
>
> UDP tunnel headers get the same handling on the inner header.
>
> Packets without VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM are unaffected.
>
> Note a fundamental limitation of this approach: an nf/BPF program
> that tweaks the payload of a packet in flight may rely on the
> checksum being fixed up later, assuming the packet carries
> CHECKSUM_PARTIAL.
>
> For metadata that fails validation the checksum
> is now completed at input, so such edits leave a stale checksum
> and the packet is dropped at the receiver. Protocols whose
> transport header we cannot parse (anything but TCP and UDP) are
> affected even when the metadata is self-consistent.
>
> The sysctl added in the next patch is the escape hatch for these setups,
> but it is a very blunt tool.
>
> Reported-by: Paulos Yibelo <habte.yibelo@gmail.com>
> Reported-by: Chris Arges <carges@cloudflare.com>
> Tested-by: Chris Arges <carges@cloudflare.com>
> Fixes: f43798c27684 ("tun: Allow GSO using virtio_net_hdr")
> Suggested-by: Willem de Bruijn <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>
> Signed-off-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com>
> +static inline bool
> +virtio_net_l4_start(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int nhoff, __be16 proto,
> + unsigned int *thoff, int *ip_proto)
> +{
> + if (proto == htons(ETH_P_IP)) {
> + const struct iphdr *iph = virtio_net_ip4_parse(skb, nhoff, thoff);
> +
> + if (!iph || ip_is_fragment(iph))
> + return false;
> + *ip_proto = iph->protocol;
> + return true;
> + }
> +
> + if (proto == htons(ETH_P_IPV6)) {
> + const struct ipv6hdr *iph;
> + int flags = 0;
> +
> + if (!pskb_may_pull(skb, nhoff + sizeof(*iph)))
> + return false;
> + iph = (const void *)(skb->data + nhoff);
> + if (iph->version != 6)
> + return false;
> + *thoff = nhoff + sizeof(*iph);
> + *ip_proto = iph->nexthdr;
> + if (*ip_proto != IPPROTO_TCP && *ip_proto != IPPROTO_UDP) {
> + *thoff = nhoff;
> + /* Find the transport header behind any
> + * extension headers, AH included.
> + */
> + *ip_proto = ipv6_find_hdr(skb, thoff, -1, NULL,
> + &flags);
> + if (*ip_proto < 0 || flags & IP6_FH_F_FRAG)
> + return false;
Minor, not cause for respinning on its own.
`flags` should include `IP6_FH_F_AUTH` so `ipv6_find_hdr()` stops at
`NEXTHDR_AUTH` instead of skipping it:
- `CHECKSUM_PARTIAL` and GSO behind IPsec AH are invalid: AH authenticates
the inner L4 header including its checksum field
> + }
> + return true;
> + }
> +
> + return false;
> +}
> +
> @@ -368,6 +660,21 @@ virtio_net_hdr_tnl_to_skb(struct sk_buff *skb,
> skb->inner_mac_header = inner_nh + skb_headroom(skb);
> skb->transport_header = outer_th + skb_headroom(skb);
> skb->encapsulation = 1;
> +
> + if (!skb_is_gso(skb)) {
> + /* Too small to segment: complete the checksum in place
> + * instead of dropping - senders do tag small packets
> + * with GSO headers, e.g. packetdrill sets gso_type and
> + * gso_size with --mss, whatever the packet size.
> + * The outer UDP checksum is not calculated, but a zero
> + * one is fine: UDP over IPv4 allows a disabled
> + * checksum, and so do tunnels over IPv6 where the
> + * receiver opts in (RFC 6935, RFC 6936).
> + */
> + skb_shinfo(skb)->gso_type &= ~(SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM |
> + SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL);
Maybe this carve-out for non-gso packet is best moved to its own
patch, as that is where the remaining issues (to merging the rest)
seem to be.
1. Moving `!tnl_csum_negotiated` below `virtio_net_csum_partial_ok_at_offset()`
accepts packets with an unnegotiated `VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM`
flag whenever inner validation falls back to
`__virtio_net_resolve_csum_partial_mismatch()`.
2. `__virtio_net_resolve_csum_partial_mismatch()` calls `skb_checksum_help()`,
which completes only the inner checksum at `hdr->csum_start` and sets
`skb->ip_summed = CHECKSUM_NONE`, leaving the outer UDP `uh->check` with
an uncompleted pseudo-header checksum seed.
Despite the comment, this block neither completes any checksum in place nor
is the outer UDP checksum zero when `VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM` is set:
- With `VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM`, the outer `uh->check` carries the
non-zero pseudo-header checksum seed (as expected by
`__skb_udp_tunnel_segment()`), not `0`.
- Clearing `SKB_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM` on a `!skb_is_gso(skb)` packet leaves
`skb->ip_summed == CHECKSUM_PARTIAL` at `inner_th` with nothing completing
the outer `uh->check` on transmit/forwarding (`validate_xmit_skb()` only
completes/offloads the single inner checksum, emitting a corrupt outer UDP
checksum). Even zeroing `uh->check` would be invalid over IPv6 unless the
receiver explicitly opted into RFC 6936 (`UDP_NO_CHECK6_RX`).
> + }
> +
> return 0;
> }
>
> --
> MST
>
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-30 19:21 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <cover.1793276116.git.mst@redhat.com>
2026-10-29 18:53 ` [PATCH RFC v7 1/5] net: account for ingress-resolved virtio net hdr state Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-10-29 18:53 ` [PATCH RFC v7 2/5] um: vector: trim skbs before verifying the header Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-10-29 18:53 ` [PATCH RFC v7 3/5] virtio_net: parse tunnel csum_start little-endian Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-10-29 18:53 ` [PATCH RFC v7 4/5] net: resolve uncommon partial checksums at ingress Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-10-30 19:21 ` Willem de Bruijn [this message]
2026-10-30 22:49 ` Michael S. Tsirkin
2026-10-30 21:28 ` Chris Arges
2026-10-29 18:53 ` [PATCH RFC v7 5/5] net: add a sysctl to opt out of virtio net hdr checksum validation Michael S. Tsirkin
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