In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: drop bad gso csum_start and offset in virtio_net_hdr
Tighten csum_start and csum_offset checks in virtio_net_hdr_to_skb for GSO packets.
The function already checks that a checksum requested with VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_NEEDS_CSUM is in skb linear. But for GSO packets this might not hold for segs after segmentation.
Syzkaller demonstrated to reach this warning in skb_checksum_help
offset = skb_checksum_start_offset(skb); ret = -EINVAL; if (WARN_ON_ONCE(offset >= skb_headlen(skb)))
By injecting a TSO packet:
WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 3539 at net/core/dev.c:3284 skb_checksum_help+0x3d0/0x5b0 ip_do_fragment+0x209/0x1b20 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:774 ip_finish_output_gso net/ipv4/ip_output.c:279 [inline] __ip_finish_output+0x2bd/0x4b0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:301 iptunnel_xmit+0x50c/0x930 net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:82 ip_tunnel_xmit+0x2296/0x2c70 net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:813 __gre_xmit net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:469 [inline] ipgre_xmit+0x759/0xa60 net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:661 __netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4850 [inline] netdev_start_xmit include/linux/netdevice.h:4864 [inline] xmit_one net/core/dev.c:3595 [inline] dev_hard_start_xmit+0x261/0x8c0 net/core/dev.c:3611 __dev_queue_xmit+0x1b97/0x3c90 net/core/dev.c:4261 packet_snd net/packet/af_packet.c:3073 [inline]
The geometry of the bad input packet at tcp_gso_segment:
[ 52.003050][ T8403] skb len=12202 headroom=244 headlen=12093 tailroom=0 [ 52.003050][ T8403] mac=(168,24) mac_len=24 net=(192,52) trans=244 [ 52.003050][ T8403] shinfo(txflags=0 nr_frags=1 gso(size=1552 type=3 segs=0)) [ 52.003050][ T8403] csum(0x60000c7 start=199 offset=1536 ip_summed=3 complete_sw=0 valid=0 level=0)
Mitigate with stricter input validation.
csum_offset: for GSO packets, deduce the correct value from gso_type. This is already done for USO. Extend it to TSO. Let UFO be: udp[46]_ufo_fragment ignores these fields and always computes the checksum in software.
csum_start: finding the real offset requires parsing to the transport header. Do not add a parser, use existing segmentation parsing. Thanks to SKB_GSO_DODGY, that also catches bad packets that are hw offloaded. Again test both TSO and USO. Do not test UFO for the above reason, and do not test UDP tunnel offload.
GSO packet are almost always CHECKSUM_PARTIAL. USO packets may be CHECKSUM_NONE since commit 10154dbded6d6 ("udp: Allow GSO transmit from devices with no checksum offload"), but then still these fields are initialized correctly in udp4_hwcsum/udp6_hwcsum_outgoing. So no need to test for ip_summed == CHECKSUM_PARTIAL first.
This revises an existing fix mentioned in the Fixes tag, which broke small packets with GSO offload, as detected by kselftests.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 7.8
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | — | Upgrade kernelUpgrade python-perfUpgrade kernel-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-headersUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade python-perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-livepatch-5.15.167-112.165Upgrade bpftool-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade kernel-tools-debuginfoUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-develUpgrade perfUpgrade kernel-tools-develUpgrade perf-debuginfo | May 20, 2026 | May 20, 2026 |
| Amazon_linux_2023 | — | Upgrade perfUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-headersUpgrade kernel-libbpfUpgrade kernel-tools-develUpgrade kernel-libbpf-staticUpgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade kernel-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-develUpgrade kernel-libbpf-develUpgrade python3-perfUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade bpftool-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-modules-extra-commonUpgrade python3-perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-modules-extraUpgrade perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-livepatch-6.1.109-118.189 | Oct 16, 2025 | Aug 26, 2024 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade linuxUpgrade linux-6.1 | Sep 2, 2024 | Aug 26, 2024 |
| Oracle_linux | — | Upgrade kernel-uek | Nov 21, 2024 | Aug 26, 2024 |
| Suse | — | Upgrade reiserfs-kmp-64kbUpgrade dtb-broadcomUpgrade kernel-default-develUpgrade kernel-rt-optionalUpgrade kernel-default-livepatch-develUpgrade kernel-kvmsmall-develUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-defaultUpgrade kernel-rt_debugUpgrade gfs2-kmp-64kbUpgrade kernel-64kb-livepatch-develUpgrade kernel-syms-rtUpgrade dtb-alteraUpgrade kernel-debug-develUpgrade kselftests-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-obs-qaUpgrade kernel-rt-vdsoUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-64kb-optionalUpgrade kernel-source-rtUpgrade kernel-64kbUpgrade kselftests-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-docs-htmlUpgrade kernel-azure-extraUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-64kbUpgrade gfs2-kmp-rtUpgrade dlm-kmp-64kbUpgrade dtb-apmUpgrade kernel-default-baseUpgrade kernel-kvmsmall-livepatch-develUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-livepatch-develUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-defaultUpgrade dtb-amazonUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-rtUpgrade dtb-renesasUpgrade dtb-hisiliconUpgrade kernel-kvmsmall-vdsoUpgrade dtb-freescaleUpgrade kernel-source-azureUpgrade kernel-source-vanillaUpgrade kernel-symsUpgrade kernel-zfcpdumpUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-vdsoUpgrade kernel-azure-optionalUpgrade kernel-debug-livepatch-develUpgrade dtb-socionextUpgrade kernel-default-extraUpgrade dtb-amlogicUpgrade kernel-debugUpgrade kernel-azureUpgrade dlm-kmp-defaultUpgrade dtb-lgUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatch-develUpgrade dtb-appleUpgrade dtb-marvellUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-azureUpgrade kernel-azure-vdsoUpgrade dtb-amdUpgrade kernel-rt_debug-develUpgrade kernel-default-livepatchUpgrade kernel-64kb-develUpgrade kernel-devel-azureUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-rtUpgrade kernel-default-vdsoUpgrade gfs2-kmp-defaultUpgrade dtb-allwinnerUpgrade kernel-kvmsmallUpgrade dtb-sprdUpgrade dtb-qcomUpgrade kernel-rt-livepatchUpgrade kernel-default-optionalUpgrade cluster-md-kmp-64kbUpgrade kernel-develUpgrade dtb-armUpgrade kernel-rt-develUpgrade kernel-64kb-extraUpgrade kernel-default-base-rebuildUpgrade kernel-debug-vdsoUpgrade dlm-kmp-azureUpgrade ocfs2-kmp-defaultUpgrade dtb-mediatekUpgrade dtb-caviumUpgrade kselftests-kmp-defaultUpgrade kernel-azure-livepatch-develUpgrade gfs2-kmp-azureUpgrade dtb-rockchipUpgrade kernel-defaultUpgrade kernel-devel-rtUpgrade kernel-azure-develUpgrade dlm-kmp-rtUpgrade kernel-docsUpgrade kernel-syms-azureUpgrade kernel-rt-extraUpgrade kernel-macrosUpgrade dtb-exynosUpgrade reiserfs-kmp-azureUpgrade dtb-nvidiaUpgrade dtb-xilinxUpgrade kernel-sourceUpgrade kernel-obs-buildUpgrade kselftests-kmp-64kb | Dec 5, 2025 | Sep 10, 2024 |
| Vmware Photon_os | — | Use 'tdnf update' to upgrade all packages to the latest version. | Jan 20, 2025 | Aug 26, 2024 |
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