High · published September 12, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
openvswitch: only skb_tx_error() a packet we are about to drop
queue_userspace_packet() borrows the packet skb -- it only copies it into
a private netlink message (user_skb) and does not own it; on return
do_execute_actions() keeps forwarding it through the flow's remaining
actions. Its error path nevertheless calls skb_tx_error(skb), which via
skb_zcopy_clear() does skb_shinfo(skb)->flags &= ~SKBFL_ALL_ZEROCOPY,
stripping SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG from that live skb (skb_tx_error()'s kerneldoc
says "skb must be freed afterwards").
For a MSG_ZEROCOPY skb carrying page-cache frags, SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG is
what makes esp_input() skb_cow_data() before in-place AEAD; once it is
stripped a later local ESP-in-UDP delivery decrypts in place over pages
the sender does not own -- an unprivileged page-cache write (the
"Fragnesia" primitive).
do_execute_actions() ignores output_userspace()'s return value, so any
action after a failed USERSPACE upcall inherits the stripped skb.
Move the skb_tx_error() to the flow-miss drop path - the "default"
branch of ovs_dp_process_packet()'s switch(error), before kfree_skb().
The call has been here since commit 36d5fe6a0007 ("core, nfqueue,
openvswitch: Orphan frags in skb_zerocopy and handle errors") but was
harmless until esp_input() began relying on SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG to gate
in-place decrypt; only then did stripping it on a still-forwarded skb
become a page-cache write primitive.