Overview
About vulnerability
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: synproxy: refresh tcphdr after skb_ensure_writable
synproxy_tstamp_adjust() rewrites the TCP timestamp option in place and then patches the TCP checksum via inet_proto_csum_replace4() on the caller-supplied tcphdr pointer. Both ipv4_synproxy_hook() and ipv6_synproxy_hook() obtain that pointer with skb_header_pointer() before calling in, so it may either alias skb->head directly or point at the caller’s on-stack _tcph buffer.
Between obtaining the pointer and using it, the function calls skb_ensure_writable(skb, optend), which on a cloned or non-linear skb invokes pskb_expand_head() and frees the old skb->head. After that point the cached th is stale:
caller (ipv[46]_synproxy_hook) th = skb_header_pointer(skb, …, &_tcph) synproxy_tstamp_adjust(skb, protoff, th, …) skb_ensure_writable(skb, optend) pskb_expand_head() /* kfree(old skb->head) / … inet_proto_csum_replace4(&th->check, …) / writes into freed head, or into the caller’s stack copy leaving the on-wire checksum stale */
The option bytes are written through skb->data and are fine; only the checksum update goes through th and so lands in the wrong place. The result is either a write into freed slab memory or a packet leaving with a checksum that does not match its payload.
Fix by re-deriving th from skb->data + protoff immediately after skb_ensure_writable() succeeds, so the subsequent checksum update targets the linear, writable header.
Details
- Affected product:
- AlmaLinux 9.2 ESU , TuxCare 9.6 ESU
- Affected packages:
- kernel @ 5.14.0 (+1 more)
KernelCare state
Live-patch status from KernelCare for each operating system.
| Operating system | Status | Covered kernels |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux 2023 | Planned | — |
| Debian 12 | Planned | — |
| RHEL 9 | In Progress | — |