CVE-2026-74684 PUBLISHED

net: tap: set skb->dev before parsing virtio net header in tap_get_user_xdp()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 15.08.2026 Published: 22.08.2026 Updated: 22.08.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: tap: set skb->dev before parsing virtio net header in tap_get_user_xdp()

The commit 4f61f133f354 ("net: tap: NULL pointer derefence in dev_parse_header_protocol when skb->dev is null") fixed a crash in tap_get_user() by assigning skb->dev before calling tun_vnet_hdr_to_skb(). This is required because virtio_net_hdr_to_skb() may invoke dev_parse_header_protocol(), which dereferences skb->dev. Without the assignment, a NULL pointer dereference can occur.

However, tap_get_user_xdp() still parses the virtio-net header before assigning skb->dev. When the vhost TX path passes an XDP buffer containing a GSO virtio-net header but the protocol is set to zero on purpose, tun_vnet_hdr_to_skb() can reach dev_parse_header_protocol() while skb->dev is still NULL, resulting in a crash.

Fix this by looking up the tap device and assigning skb->dev before calling tun_vnet_hdr_to_skb(), matching the ordering already used in tap_get_user(). Preserve the existing RCU read-side critical section across dev_queue_xmit().

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 924a9bc362a5223cd448ca08c3dde21235adc310 to 8b444b126cd8e4473e652f529753ed4dd1360a9c (excl.)
  • affected from 924a9bc362a5223cd448ca08c3dde21235adc310 to 164c31ee252ebd1ac8f44c2dfc5486b6d9a0379b (excl.)
  • affected from 924a9bc362a5223cd448ca08c3dde21235adc310 to 3874892dd27d5387aa9a06f58d9060f18f351d24 (excl.)
  • Version ea3fb2ce5fa794d02135f5c079e05cd6fc3f545d is affected
  • Version 54ef8243c3c8e90f1ea5792e6752e021a25c8eb3 is affected
  • Version ca278267d6cd9544645731732455b6b20cb0e895 is affected
  • Version faa3baa2828c5e1c4374f3e60041f75c64f5fcb6 is affected
  • Version 99b1d3f74b9ef72c2f74c8e4c078e1bc0706e748 is affected
  • affected from 4.14.226 to 4.15 (excl.)
  • affected from 4.19.181 to 4.20 (excl.)
  • affected from 5.4.106 to 5.5 (excl.)
  • affected from 5.10.24 to 5.11 (excl.)
  • affected from 5.11.7 to 5.12 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 5.12 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 5.12 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.45 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.1.9 to 7.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2 to * (incl.)

References