CVE-2026-90072 PUBLISHED

net/sched: sfq: clamp quantum to avoid signed overflow soft lockup

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 11.09.2026 Published: 17.09.2026 Updated: 17.09.2026

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

net/sched: sfq: clamp quantum to avoid signed overflow soft lockup

sfq_init() sets q->quantum = psched_mtu(qdisc_dev(sch)) (unsigned). A device with a huge MTU (e.g. dummy with max_mtu == 0 accepting MTU 2147483634) makes psched_mtu() return 0x80000000, so slot->allot = INT_MIN and INT_MIN + INT_MIN toggles between INT_MIN and 0 forever, spinning sfq_dequeue() under the qdisc lock.

Clamp the quantum to [256, 1 << 20] so the refill loop terminates. The lower bound also covers q->quantum == 0 (psched_mtu() returning 0), which spins sfq_dequeue() identically. sfq_change() already rejects a negative quantum, so only the init path was exposed.

Conditions to recreate the bug: a device whose MTU (plus hard_header_len) wraps psched_mtu() into the sign bit (e.g. a dummy device with max_mtu == 0 accepting MTU 2147483634). Requires CAP_NET_ADMIN in a user namespace.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 86799499585af06a9431c9e7782658667bd62650 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 2017c355a5a1af77736cd1739fe922f69b5652dc (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 6581a82bf08ba5d4e2a6d4e3080df43315b296c4 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 9d782c662879c3adaaca30e05c36910ad11b9e54 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to d72dbdfaeb5b9b8d884e0e036c3442754379ef74 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to aeb8196ecb95146e3410f635628e6cd47352b3e5 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to da16c31517cd2c06bb2c78c73e91ae192c01c426 (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 816e90057ab1879562a5b7cc688e35bb9027ae97 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 2.6.12 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 2.6.12 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 5.10.270 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.221 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.188 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.157 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.110 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.52 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.6 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc1 to * (incl.)

References