Thread (2 messages) 2 messages, 2 authors, 2d ago
WARM2d

[PATCH net v2] net/packet: reset the MAC header on the packet-socket transmit path

From: Doruk Tan Ozturk <hidden>
Date: 2026-07-24 14:40:20
Also in: lkml, stable
Subsystem: networking [general], packet sockets, the rest · Maintainers: "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Willem de Bruijn, Linus Torvalds

packet_parse_headers() resets the MAC header only for a SOCK_RAW frame
whose socket did not bind a protocol. A protocol-bound SOCK_RAW socket,
any SOCK_DGRAM frame, and the legacy SOCK_PACKET path therefore leave
skb->mac_header unset here.

For frames sent via __dev_queue_xmit() this is harmless: it resets the
MAC header unconditionally. But the packet-socket PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS
path uses dev_direct_xmit(), which does not, so the frame reaches
ndo_start_xmit() with the MAC header unset. A driver that reads
eth_hdr(skb) on transmit then dereferences skb->head + (u16)~0, an
out-of-bounds access ~64 KiB past the head -- the same class fixed for
one consumer in commit f5089008f90c ("macsec: do not read an unset MAC
header in macsec_encrypt()").

packet_parse_headers() runs only on the transmit path, where skb->data
points at the start of the L2 header for every packet-socket type
regardless of its length: SOCK_RAW and SOCK_PACKET carry a user-supplied
header and SOCK_DGRAM has one built by dev_hard_header(). Reset the MAC
header unconditionally, mirroring __dev_queue_xmit(), so the frame is
anchored on the bypass path too.

Found by 0sec (https://0sec.ai) using automated source analysis;
verified against source and matched to the macsec KASAN report in
f5089008f90c. Compile-tested.

Fixes: 75c65772c3d1 ("net/packet: Ask driver for protocol if not provided by user")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Assisted-by: 0sec:multi-model
Signed-off-by: Doruk Tan Ozturk <redacted>
---
v2: address Willem de Bruijn's review -- clarify that __dev_queue_xmit()
    already resets so only the dev_direct_xmit()/PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS path
    is affected; note skb->data is the L2 start for all packet-socket TX
    types regardless of L2 length; move the explanatory comment out of the
    code into the commit log (kept one terse line).
 net/packet/af_packet.c | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/packet/af_packet.c b/net/packet/af_packet.c
index e75d2932475a..5ae0511e89e3 100644
--- a/net/packet/af_packet.c
+++ b/net/packet/af_packet.c
@@ -1924,11 +1924,12 @@ static void packet_parse_headers(struct sk_buff *skb, struct socket *sock)
 {
 	int depth;
 
+	/* On TX skb->data is the L2 header; anchor it for all socket types. */
+	skb_reset_mac_header(skb);
+
 	if ((!skb->protocol || skb->protocol == htons(ETH_P_ALL)) &&
-	    sock->type == SOCK_RAW) {
-		skb_reset_mac_header(skb);
+	    sock->type == SOCK_RAW)
 		skb->protocol = dev_parse_header_protocol(skb);
-	}
 
 	/* Move network header to the right position for VLAN tagged packets */
 	if (likely(skb->dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER) &&
-- 
2.43.0
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