CVE-2026-80590
Received
Received - Intake
Linux Kernel GSO State Handling Vulnerability in IPv4/IPv6 Fragmentation
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-80590, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-08-28
Last updated on: 2026-08-28
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly
A virtio_net_hdr (tun/tap, or AF_PACKET with PACKET_VNET_HDR) can mark
an IPv4 or IPv6 fragment as GSO; nothing relates gso_type to frag_off.
inet_frag_reasm_prepare()/inet_frag_reasm_finish() keep the first
fragment's skb as the head of the reassembled datagram, including its
shinfo->gso_size/gso_type/gso_segs, and chain the remaining fragments
on frag_list with whatever linear/paged layout they arrived with.
After ip_defrag() (ip_local_deliver(), nf_defrag_ipv4, ...) the
reassembled skb therefore still claims to be GSO (SKB_GSO_DODGY), and
the next software segmentation point - udp_rcv_segment() on local
delivery, validate_xmit_skb(), or the ip_finish_output_gso() slow
path - hands it to skb_segment(). skb_segment()'s frag_list walk
assumes GRO-shaped input and hits one of its BUG_ON()s. Two writes to
a tap by an unprivileged user in its own userns are enough:
kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:4899!
Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 82 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.2.0-pentest+ #2
RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0x20ca/0x48b0
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__udp_gso_segment+0x29a/0x27d0
udp4_ufo_fragment+0x458/0x6c0
inet_gso_segment+0x429/0x1340
skb_mac_gso_segment+0x233/0x4f0
__skb_gso_segment+0x308/0x660
udp_queue_rcv_skb+0x440/0xad0
udp_unicast_rcv_skb+0xc7/0x2c0
udp_rcv+0x16ce/0x2260
ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x197/0x2d0
ip_local_deliver+0x430/0x690
ip_rcv+0x16f/0x1f0
__netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x15e/0x1c0
__netif_receive_skb+0x1e/0x110
netif_receive_skb+0xf6/0x5c0
tun_rx_batched.isra.0+0x3ab/0x790
tun_get_user+0x17c3/0x3550
tun_chr_write_iter+0xba/0x1b0
vfs_write+0x646/0x1130
</TASK>
Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt
This runs with BH disabled, so it is a panic rather than an oops. The
same is reachable with CAP_NET_RAW in a netns where a defrag point
precedes a GSO point, and from a guest whose VMM forwards
virtio_net_hdr to a tap. The SKB_GSO_DODGY frag_list checks added by
commit 3dcbdb134f32 ("net: gso: Fix skb_segment splat when splitting
gso_size mangled skb having linear-headed frag_list") and by
commit 9e4b7a99a03a ("net: gso: fix panic on frag_list with mixed head
alloc types") do not cover it: page-backed heads skip them, and kmalloc
heads skip them when gso_size == skb_headlen(head), which the sender
controls.
An skb entering a frag queue is an IP fragment by definition and
cannot legitimately carry GSO state: GRO does not merge fragments and
the stack segments before it fragments, so only untrusted sources are
affected. This has been reachable since
commit f43798c27684 ("tun: Allow GSO using virtio_net_hdr"), the first
path that let userspace attach GSO metadata to an IP fragment. Reset
the GSO fields of every fragment as it is queued, in
inet_frag_queue_insert(), which IPv4, IPv6, nf_conntrack_reasm and
6lowpan reassembly share; then neither the head nor the frag_list
members of the reassembled skb carry them (the members matter too:
the ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() fast paths send them out as they
are). The head may remain CHECKSUM_PARTIAL; that is already accepted
on receive and resolved by skb_checksum_help() in
ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() on forward.
Tested on top of net.git (dc4b95b8fee9), x86_64: the tap reproducer
above, two further IPv4 frag_list geometries that reach
BUG_ON(i >= nfrags) and BUG_ON(!list_skb->head_frag), and an IPv6
fragment-header variant (udp6_ufo_fragment()) each panic the unpatched
kernel; with this patch all four datagrams are delivered intact and
nothing is logged.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | * |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |