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From: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>
To: <netfilter-devel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH nf-next] netfilter: nf_conntrack: limit expectation master chain depth
Date: Wed,  7 Oct 2026 14:48:43 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261007124843.8158-1-fw@strlen.de> (raw)

A conntrack can point to a master conntrack, which itself may point to
another master, and so on.  There is currently no bound on how deep this
chain can grow.

Force a max depth in nf_ct_expect_alloc(): walk the master chain and
reject allocation if it would exceed 2 levels of nesting.

Also add ctnetlink_find_get_master and use it so that ctnetlink create
paths return -EMLINK instead of falling through to nf_ct_expect_alloc()
and returning a misleading -ENOMEM.

This prevents unbounded ct->master->master->... chains.

Assisted-by: LLM
Reported-by: Daehyeon Ko <4ncienth@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>
---
 This is in addition to the recursion removal via
 "[PATCH net v3] netfilter: conntrack: avoid recursive master destruction"

 include/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.h | 15 +++++++++
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c         | 15 +++++++--
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c        | 36 +++++++++++++++------
 3 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.h b/include/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.h
index 335b8c43694f..617178fd4d8b 100644
--- a/include/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.h
+++ b/include/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.h
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ enum nf_ct_helper_flags {
 
 #define NF_CT_HELPER_NAME_LEN	16
 
+#define NF_CT_MAX_EXPECT_CHAIN_LEN	2
+
 /* Must be kept in sync with the classes defined by helpers */
 #define NF_CT_MAX_EXPECT_CLASSES	4
 
@@ -159,6 +161,19 @@ static inline void nf_ct_help_put(const struct nf_conn *ct)
 		kfree_rcu(helper, rcu);
 }
 
+static inline bool nf_ct_master_acceptable(const struct nf_conn *m)
+{
+	unsigned int depth = 0;
+
+	while (m->master) {
+		if (++depth >= NF_CT_MAX_EXPECT_CHAIN_LEN)
+			return false;
+		m = m->master;
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
 int nf_conntrack_helper_init(void);
 void nf_conntrack_helper_fini(void);
 
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
index 06242c86e1dc..e9e796bda577 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
@@ -299,13 +299,22 @@ void nf_ct_unexpect_related(struct nf_conntrack_expect *exp)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nf_ct_unexpect_related);
 
-/* We don't increase the master conntrack refcount for non-fulfilled
- * conntracks. During the conntrack destruction, the expectations are
- * always killed before the conntrack itself */
+/**
+ * nf_ct_expect_alloc - allocate a new conntrack expectation
+ * @me: The conntrack to be used as master.
+ *
+ * The master conntrack refcount is not incremented; expectations
+ * are always killed before the master conntrack is destroyed.
+ *
+ * Returns a new expectation on success or NULL on failure.
+ */
 struct nf_conntrack_expect *nf_ct_expect_alloc(struct nf_conn *me)
 {
 	struct nf_conntrack_expect *new;
 
+	if (!nf_ct_master_acceptable(me))
+		return NULL;
+
 	new = kmem_cache_zalloc(nf_ct_expect_cachep, GFP_ATOMIC);
 	if (!new)
 		return NULL;
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
index 4e5d7c701436..628584be222e 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
@@ -2220,6 +2220,26 @@ ctnetlink_change_conntrack(struct nf_conn *ct,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static struct nf_conn *
+ctnetlink_find_get_master(struct net *net, const struct nf_conntrack_zone *zone,
+			  const struct nf_conntrack_tuple *tuple)
+{
+	struct nf_conntrack_tuple_hash *master_h;
+	struct nf_conn *master_ct;
+
+	master_h = nf_conntrack_find_get(net, zone, tuple);
+	if (!master_h)
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
+
+	master_ct = nf_ct_tuplehash_to_ctrack(master_h);
+	if (!nf_ct_master_acceptable(master_ct)) {
+		nf_ct_put(master_ct);
+		return ERR_PTR(-EMLINK);
+	}
+
+	return master_ct;
+}
+
 static struct nf_conn *
 ctnetlink_create_conntrack(struct net *net,
 			   const struct nf_conntrack_zone *zone,
@@ -2345,7 +2365,6 @@ ctnetlink_create_conntrack(struct net *net,
 	/* setup master conntrack: this is a confirmed expectation */
 	if (cda[CTA_TUPLE_MASTER]) {
 		struct nf_conntrack_tuple master;
-		struct nf_conntrack_tuple_hash *master_h;
 		struct nf_conn *master_ct;
 
 		err = ctnetlink_parse_tuple(cda, &master, CTA_TUPLE_MASTER,
@@ -2353,12 +2372,11 @@ ctnetlink_create_conntrack(struct net *net,
 		if (err < 0)
 			goto err2;
 
-		master_h = nf_conntrack_find_get(net, zone, &master);
-		if (master_h == NULL) {
-			err = -ENOENT;
+		master_ct = ctnetlink_find_get_master(net, zone, &master);
+		if (IS_ERR(master_ct)) {
+			err = PTR_ERR(master_ct);
 			goto err2;
 		}
-		master_ct = nf_ct_tuplehash_to_ctrack(master_h);
 		__set_bit(IPS_EXPECTED_BIT, &ct->status);
 		ct->master = master_ct;
 	}
@@ -3602,7 +3620,6 @@ ctnetlink_create_expect(struct net *net,
 			u_int8_t u3, u32 portid, int report)
 {
 	struct nf_conntrack_tuple tuple, mask, master_tuple;
-	struct nf_conntrack_tuple_hash *h = NULL;
 	struct nf_conntrack_expect *exp;
 	struct nf_conn *ct;
 	int err;
@@ -3622,10 +3639,9 @@ ctnetlink_create_expect(struct net *net,
 		return err;
 
 	/* Look for master conntrack of this expectation */
-	h = nf_conntrack_find_get(net, zone, &master_tuple);
-	if (!h)
-		return -ENOENT;
-	ct = nf_ct_tuplehash_to_ctrack(h);
+	ct = ctnetlink_find_get_master(net, zone, &master_tuple);
+	if (IS_ERR(ct))
+		return PTR_ERR(ct);
 
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	exp = ctnetlink_alloc_expect(cda, ct, NULL, &tuple, &mask);
-- 
2.55.0


                 reply	other threads:[~2026-10-07 12:48 UTC|newest]

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