[PATCH net] net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet
From: hyunjungg <hidden>
Date: 2026-08-05 09:55:46
Also in:
lkml, stable
Subsystem:
networking [general], tc subsystem, the rest · Maintainers:
"David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Jamal Hadi Salim, Jiri Pirko, Linus Torvalds
From: Hyunjung Ko <redacted>
tcf_ct_handle_fragments() runs its header sanity checks before handing
anything to the defragmentation engine:
if (family == NFPROTO_IPV4)
err = tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment(skb, &frag);
else
err = tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(skb, &frag);
if (err || !frag)
return err;
tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment() returns -EINVAL or -ENOMEM;
tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment() adds -EPROTO when ipv6_find_hdr() fails. None of
them frees or queues the skb, so on that path the caller still owns it.
tcf_ct_act() however funnels every non-zero return into the
ownership-transfer exit:
err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag);
if (err)
goto out_frag;
...
out_frag:
if (err != -EINPROGRESS)
tcf_action_inc_drop_qstats(&c->common);
return TC_ACT_CONSUMED;
TC_ACT_CONSUMED means the action took ownership of the skb, so no caller
frees it - sch_handle_ingress(), sch_handle_egress() and
tcf_qevent_handle() all deliberately skip the free for that verdict. The
skb is therefore orphaned: one sk_buff plus its data buffer is leaked per
malformed packet, unbounded. Note the drop counter is already incremented
for these errors, so the statistics claim a drop that never happens.
Three different ownership states reach out_frag: today - the skb may be
queued by the defrag engine (-EINPROGRESS), already freed by
nf_ct_handle_fragments(), or still owned by us. Tell the caller which of
those it is, and free the packet ourselves in the last case, which
restores the TC_ACT_SHOT behaviour that predated the Fixes: commit.
Reproduced on v7.2-rc6 with a 54-byte frame carrying a 40-byte IPv6
header with nexthdr = 0 (hop-by-hop) and nothing after it, on a
clsact ingress chain with "action ct". kmemleak reports one leaked
232-byte skbuff_head_cache object plus its 704-byte data buffer per
packet; with this patch it reports none.
Fixes: 3f14b377d01d ("net/sched: act_ct: fix skb leak and crash on ooo frags")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # v6.8+
Signed-off-by: Hyunjung Ko <redacted>
---
net/sched/act_ct.c | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++----
1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
Reproducer needs CONFIG_NET_ACT_CT, plus CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK and
kmemleak=on to observe it:
ip link add veth0 type veth peer name veth1
ip link set veth0 up; ip link set veth1 up
tc qdisc add dev veth0 clsact
tc filter add dev veth0 ingress matchall action ct
then inject at veth1 a 54-byte frame: ethertype 0x86DD, a 40-byte IPv6
header with nexthdr = 0 (hop-by-hop) and nothing after it, so
ipv6_find_hdr() fails with -EBADMSG and tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment()
returns -EPROTO.
Before, one sk_buff plus its data buffer per packet:
kmemleak: 50 new suspected memory leaks
unreferenced object 0xffff888103ed13c0 (size 232):
kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0x2f1/0x3e0
__alloc_skb+0xe5/0x860
alloc_skb_with_frags+0x82/0x750
sock_alloc_send_pskb+0x658/0x7e0
packet_sendmsg+0x1833/0x4860
__x64_sys_sendto+0xe0/0x1c0
do_syscall_64+0x102/0x5a0
After: kmemleak reports no unreferenced objects.
Note /proc/slabinfo is not a usable check here on a KASAN build -
skbuff_head_cache active_objs still grows because the quarantine holds
the freed objects. kmemleak is the reliable signal.
No selftest accompanies this: tdc drives tc(8) only and cannot inject
the malformed frame. A self-contained C reproducer is available on
request.
diff --git a/net/sched/act_ct.c b/net/sched/act_ct.c
index be535a261fa0..e250969c84ac 100644
--- a/net/sched/act_ct.c
+++ b/net/sched/act_ct.c@@ -840,8 +840,15 @@ static int tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(struct sk_buff *skb, bool *frag) return 0; } +/* On error, tells the caller whether it still owns @skb and must free it + * itself. @skb is ours only when the header checks below reject the packet + * before it is handed to the defragmentation engine; once nf_ct_handle_ + * fragments() has been called the skb is either queued (-EINPROGRESS) or has + * already been freed by it. + */ static int tcf_ct_handle_fragments(struct net *net, struct sk_buff *skb, - u8 family, u16 zone, bool *defrag) + u8 family, u16 zone, bool *defrag, + bool *skb_is_ours) { enum ip_conntrack_info ctinfo; struct tc_skb_cb cb;
@@ -859,8 +866,12 @@ static int tcf_ct_handle_fragments(struct net *net, struct sk_buff *skb, err = tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment(skb, &frag); else err = tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(skb, &frag); - if (err || !frag) + if (err) { + *skb_is_ours = true; return err; + } + if (!frag) + return 0; cb = *tc_skb_cb(skb); err = nf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, zone, family, &proto, &cb.mru);
@@ -977,6 +988,7 @@ TC_INDIRECT_SCOPE int tcf_ct_act(struct sk_buff *skb, const struct tc_action *a, int nh_ofs, err, retval; struct tcf_ct_params *p; bool add_helper = false; + bool skb_is_ours = false; bool skip_add = false; bool defrag = false; struct nf_conn *ct;
@@ -1012,9 +1024,18 @@ TC_INDIRECT_SCOPE int tcf_ct_act(struct sk_buff *skb, const struct tc_action *a, */ nh_ofs = skb_network_offset(skb); skb_pull_rcsum(skb, nh_ofs); - err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag); - if (err) + err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag, + &skb_is_ours); + if (err) { + /* The skb is still ours only when the header checks rejected + * it; returning TC_ACT_CONSUMED for such a packet would leak + * it, since no caller frees an skb it was told it no longer + * owns. + */ + if (skb_is_ours) + goto drop; goto out_frag; + } err = nf_ct_skb_network_trim(skb, family); if (err) --
2.43.0