CVE-2026-80731 PUBLISHED

net: remove CAP_SYS_RAWIO zero-padding in dev_validate_header

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 26.08.2026 Published: 03.09.2026 Updated: 03.09.2026

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

net: remove CAP_SYS_RAWIO zero-padding in dev_validate_header

dev_validate_header() reads dev->hard_header_len directly when zero-padding short link layer headers for CAP_SYS_RAWIO holders:

<pre>if (capable(CAP_SYS_RAWIO)) { memset(ll_header + len, 0, dev->hard_header_len - len); return true; } </pre>

Packet send paths call dev_validate_header() on skbs whose headroom was allocated from an earlier hard_header_len read. If the device is reconfigured so that dev->hard_header_len increases before validation, the memset writes past the reserved buffer, an out-of-bounds write.

This out-of-bounds write is masked in some SOCK_RAW paths today because the same concurrent increase can first make skb_push() exceed the reserved headroom and trigger skb_under_panic(). Remove the zero-padding branch before making those hard_header_len reads consistent, so the snapshot fixes do not turn a loud panic into a silent overwrite.

This path is only reached for variable length L2 protocols, where len < hard_header_len but len >= min_header_len. No remaining in-tree variable length L2 protocol implements header_ops->validate, and the CAP_SYS_RAWIO bypass that zero-pads and accepts short headers has no real value beyond allowing testing of intentionally malformed input.

Drop the CAP_SYS_RAWIO branch. The remaining reads of dev->hard_header_len in dev_validate_header() are comparisons only and have no memory safety impact.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from b5518429e70cd783b8ca52335456172c1a0589f6 to 53fd7f912c0877647d6a1e1877f5ea8535ee0b4a (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to fa6d98dd925e72fc028b26a0cbbff9d2f0601ff6 (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to 8fc9816404166a90ed8d544dc52482fafffb6d9f (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to b0f92a5731dc82556a9ae005cc35f71ab136307b (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to 99df6b7a713f96eda206680d100b76e15f9d9b69 (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to 74e035f07f53feca09e2352e77fccb09cad5e208 (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to dbb30dc943a93e083f1e531bfdc6779e57de40d0 (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to fc902f52a02298c7432b2334c0c82a2885a1a8b6 (excl.)
  • affected from 2793a23aacbd754dbbb5cb75093deb7e4103bace to 3b9a324e646d3657a8d9806dfbfe4f3e4066e882 (excl.)
  • Version f58a6c08ebdfa978178bbca78c2ba744a2665912 is affected
  • Version 1df16498dfd0d5a129bdf2982d9a08df73e8923d is affected
  • Version 8b8d278aa4de9335682bbd4a3bb619af015c859e is affected
  • Version 6804052fa9d86e9a512c88b24a5debbfc1a490fc is affected
  • affected from 3.2.80 to 3.2.81 (excl.)
  • affected from 3.16.36 to 3.17 (excl.)
  • affected from 4.1.28 to 4.2 (excl.)
  • affected from 4.4.8 to 4.5 (excl.)
  • affected from 4.5.2 to 4.6 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 4.6 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 4.6 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 3.2.81 to 3.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.10.265 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.216 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.183 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.152 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.104 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • 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