CVE-2026-97612 PUBLISHED

net: mpls: clear inner_protocol when the last label is popped

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 24.09.2026 Published: 25.09.2026 Updated: 25.09.2026

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

net: mpls: clear inner_protocol when the last label is popped

skb_mpls_push() records the pre-encapsulation network header once, gated on !skb->inner_protocol. skb_mpls_pop() never clears that record, so it outlives the encapsulation it describes.

Open vSwitch can then re-push MPLS onto a packet whose inner_network_header still points at the older, deeper offset: push a label, pop every label, recirculate (ovs_flow_key_update() re-derives key->eth.type and resets network_header, but leaves inner_*), then push again. ovs_fragment() trusts the record:

<pre>skb->network_header = skb->inner_network_header; </pre>

so skb_network_offset() goes negative. The bound check is signed:

<pre>if (skb_network_offset(skb) > MAX_L2_LEN) </pre>

a negative offset passes it, and prepare_frag() widens the value:

<pre>unsigned int hlen = skb_network_offset(skb); memcpy(&data->l2_data, skb->data, hlen); </pre>

which is a ~4GiB memcpy out of a 30-byte per-CPU buffer.

Reproduced on v7.3-rc1. RDX is the truncated length, (unsigned int)(-8):

BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe8ffffc16000 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI RIP: 0010:memcpy+0x8/0x20 RDX: 00000000fffffff8 RSI: ffff888105d732db RDI: ffffe8ffffc16000 prepare_frag+0x3df/0x4e0 ovs_fragment+0x589/0x7e0 do_output+0x4ce/0x5e0 do_execute_actions+0x55d2/0x7b30 ovs_execute_actions+0xea/0x450

Same root-cause shape as commit 975b5b067f52 ("ipv6: sr: restore network header before routing and forwarding"): a stale network header offset reaching a consumer that widens it. Here it originates in the MPLS push/pop path.

Clear inner_protocol once the packet is no longer MPLS, so a later push re-records the current header. net/sched/act_mpls.c is the only other skb_mpls_pop() caller and gets the same fix; sch_frag.c saves and restores inner_protocol around fragmentation in the same way OVS does.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.8

AV:L - The stale inner_network_header comes from OVS flow actions (push_mpls, pop_mpls, recirc, push_mpls) that the attacker installs over the ovs_flow/ovs_packet generic netlink families. No field of a received packet causes the bad offset, so the vector is local netlink rather than the wire. AC:L - The attacker chooses the flow action sequence and the oversized packet that sends do_output into ovs_fragment(). skb_mpls_pop() then deterministically leaves inner_protocol set, and the negative offset always passes the signed MAX_L2_LEN check, so nothing depends on timing or outside state. PR:L - The OVS datapath, vport, flow and packet genl operations use GENL_UNS_ADMIN_PERM with netnsok=true. That means CAP_NET_ADMIN inside an unprivileged user and network namespace (unshare -Urn) is enough to create a datapath, install the flows and execute packets. UI:N - No victim action is needed. The attacker installs the flows and injects or sends the packet themselves inside their own namespace. S:U - The overflow corrupts memory of the same kernel that performs the check. This is ordinary in-kernel memory corruption and crosses no hypervisor or IOMMU boundary. C:H - prepare_frag() turns a negative skb_network_offset() into an unsigned hlen of about 4 GiB and memcpy()s attacker packet bytes past the 30-byte per-CPU ovs_frag_data.l2_data. The write covers exec_level, owner, bh_lock and the per-CPU data that follows, and memory corruption of this kind can be leveraged for information disclosure. I:H - This is an out-of-bounds write of attacker-controlled skb data into the per-CPU ovs_pcpu_storage and the per-CPU memory after it, including a task_struct pointer (owner) and lock state. The corruption stays in place if the oops happens in process context (OVS_PACKET_CMD_EXECUTE). A:H - The runaway memcpy in prepare_frag() always runs until it hits an unmapped per-CPU page and oopses, as the fix's reproducer shows (write fault in memcpy from prepare_frag/ovs_fragment). The attacker can repeat this at will.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 48d2ab609b6bbecb7698487c8579bc40de9d6dfa to 011e17b5cae19b9f6a150923275e41c278de64f0 (excl.)
  • affected from 48d2ab609b6bbecb7698487c8579bc40de9d6dfa to da8c3a7f5d3137fec4ff60a6248f5f6d66b6a63e (excl.)
  • affected from 48d2ab609b6bbecb7698487c8579bc40de9d6dfa to b39120523475d6b436be7f6cb27d48064148a327 (excl.)
  • affected from 48d2ab609b6bbecb7698487c8579bc40de9d6dfa to 78a86d75a70e1e227711c72865c59b1422d0a5ae (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 4.9 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 4.9 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.111 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.53 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.7 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc3 to * (incl.)

References