Bug 2521490 (CVE-2026-74667)

Summary: CVE-2026-74667 kernel: net/packet: reset the MAC header on the packet-socket transmit path
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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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's networking packet handling. Specifically, the `packet_parse_headers()` function does not consistently reset the Media Access Control (MAC) header for certain packet types on the `PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS` path. This can lead to an unset MAC header, causing a driver to perform an out-of-bounds read when processing network frames. This memory corruption vulnerability could result in system instability or a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:48:06 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/packet: reset the MAC header on the packet-socket transmit path

packet_parse_headers() resets the MAC header only for a SOCK_RAW frame
whose socket did not bind a protocol. A protocol-bound SOCK_RAW socket,
any SOCK_DGRAM frame, and the legacy SOCK_PACKET path therefore leave
skb->mac_header unset here.

For frames sent via __dev_queue_xmit() this is harmless: it resets the
MAC header unconditionally. But the packet-socket PACKET_QDISC_BYPASS
path uses dev_direct_xmit(), which does not, so the frame reaches
ndo_start_xmit() with the MAC header unset. A driver that reads
eth_hdr(skb) on transmit then dereferences skb->head + (u16)~0, an
out-of-bounds access ~64 KiB past the head -- the same class fixed for
one consumer in commit f5089008f90c ("macsec: do not read an unset MAC
header in macsec_encrypt()").

packet_parse_headers() runs only on the transmit path, where skb->data
points at the start of the L2 header for every packet-socket type
regardless of its length: SOCK_RAW and SOCK_PACKET carry a user-supplied
header and SOCK_DGRAM has one built by dev_hard_header(). Reset the MAC
header unconditionally, mirroring __dev_queue_xmit(), so the frame is
anchored on the bypass path too.

Found by 0sec (https://0sec.ai) using automated source analysis;
verified against source and matched to the macsec KASAN report in
f5089008f90c. Compile-tested.