Bug 2521432 (CVE-2026-74684)

Summary: CVE-2026-74684 kernel: net: tap: set skb->dev before parsing virtio net header in tap_get_user_xdp()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's `net: tap` module. A NULL pointer dereference can occur in the `tap_get_user_xdp()` function when processing an XDP buffer with a GSO virtio-net header and a zero protocol. This can be triggered by a malicious guest in a virtualized environment, leading to a system crash and a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:45:19 UTC
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().