Thread (9 messages) 9 messages, 6 authors, 2026-01-15

Re: [PATCH v2][next] virtio_net: Fix misalignment bug in struct virtnet_info

From: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>
Date: 2026-01-13 15:06:11
Also in: linux-hardening, lkml, virtualization

On 1/13/26 3:39 PM, Michael S. Tsirkin wrote:
On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 03:30:00PM +0100, Paolo Abeni wrote:
quoted
On 1/10/26 9:07 AM, Gustavo A. R. Silva wrote:
quoted
Use the new TRAILING_OVERLAP() helper to fix a misalignment bug
along with the following warning:

drivers/net/virtio_net.c:429:46: warning: structure containing a flexible array member is not at the end of another structure [-Wflex-array-member-not-at-end]

This helper creates a union between a flexible-array member (FAM)
and a set of members that would otherwise follow it (in this case
`u8 rss_hash_key_data[VIRTIO_NET_RSS_MAX_KEY_SIZE];`). This
overlays the trailing members (rss_hash_key_data) onto the FAM
(hash_key_data) while keeping the FAM and the start of MEMBERS aligned.
The static_assert() ensures this alignment remains.

Notice that due to tail padding in flexible `struct
virtio_net_rss_config_trailer`, `rss_trailer.hash_key_data`
(at offset 83 in struct virtnet_info) and `rss_hash_key_data` (at
offset 84 in struct virtnet_info) are misaligned by one byte. See
below:

struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer {
        __le16                     max_tx_vq;            /*     0     2 */
        __u8                       hash_key_length;      /*     2     1 */
        __u8                       hash_key_data[];      /*     3     0 */

        /* size: 4, cachelines: 1, members: 3 */
        /* padding: 1 */
        /* last cacheline: 4 bytes */
};

struct virtnet_info {
...
        struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer rss_trailer; /*    80     4 */

        /* XXX last struct has 1 byte of padding */

        u8                         rss_hash_key_data[40]; /*    84    40 */
...
        /* size: 832, cachelines: 13, members: 48 */
        /* sum members: 801, holes: 8, sum holes: 31 */
        /* paddings: 2, sum paddings: 5 */
};

After changes, those members are correctly aligned at offset 795:

struct virtnet_info {
...
        union {
                struct virtio_net_rss_config_trailer rss_trailer; /*   792     4 */
                struct {
                        unsigned char __offset_to_hash_key_data[3]; /*   792     3 */
                        u8         rss_hash_key_data[40]; /*   795    40 */
                };                                       /*   792    43 */
        };                                               /*   792    44 */
...
        /* size: 840, cachelines: 14, members: 47 */
        /* sum members: 801, holes: 8, sum holes: 35 */
        /* padding: 4 */
        /* paddings: 1, sum paddings: 4 */
        /* last cacheline: 8 bytes */
};

As a result, the RSS key passed to the device is shifted by 1
byte: the last byte is cut off, and instead a (possibly
uninitialized) byte is added at the beginning.

As a last note `struct virtio_net_rss_config_hdr *rss_hdr;` is also
moved to the end, since it seems those three members should stick
around together. :)

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: ed3100e90d0d ("virtio_net: Use new RSS config structs")
Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v2:
 - Update subject and changelog text (include feedback from Simon and
   Michael --thanks folks)
 - Add Fixes tag and CC -stable.
@Michael, @Jason: This is still apparently targeting 'net-next', but I
think it should land in the 'net' tree, right?

/P
Probably but I'm yet to properly review it. The thing that puzzles me at
a first glance is how are things working right now then?
Apparently they aren't ?!?

rss self-tests for virtio_net are failing:

https://netdev-ctrl.bots.linux.dev/logs/vmksft/drv-hw-dbg/results/471521/15-rss-api-py/stdout

but the result is into the CI reported as success (no idea why?!?)

/P
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