Bug 2480902 (CVE-2026-43503)

Summary: CVE-2026-43503 kernel: net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's networking (skbuff) component. When skb_try_coalesce() attaches paged fragments, it can lose the SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG marker. This can lead to the Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) input decrypting data in place over page-cache backed fragments, potentially resulting in data corruption.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-23 13:01:12 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: skbuff: preserve shared-frag marker during coalescing

skb_try_coalesce() can attach paged frags from @from to @to.  If @from
has SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG set, the resulting @to skb can contain the same
externally-owned or page-cache-backed frags, but the shared-frag marker
is currently lost.

That breaks the invariant relied on by later in-place writers.  In
particular, ESP input checks skb_has_shared_frag() before deciding
whether an uncloned nonlinear skb can skip skb_cow_data().  If TCP
receive coalescing has moved shared frags into an unmarked skb, ESP can
see skb_has_shared_frag() as false and decrypt in place over page-cache
backed frags.

Propagate SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG when skb_try_coalesce() transfers paged
frags.  The tailroom copy path does not need the marker because it copies
bytes into @to's linear data rather than transferring frag descriptors.