Bug 2524460 (CVE-2026-74742)

Summary: CVE-2026-74742 kernel: veth: fix queue index used to wake the peer txq in veth_poll
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: medium    
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 veth component. In a multi-queue setup without an eXpress Data Path (XDP) program attached, the `veth_poll()` function incorrectly derives the index of the peer transmit (TX) queue to wake. This can cause a TX queue to stop indefinitely if it becomes full, as the polling mechanism fails to reactivate it. This issue leads to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition, preventing further network traffic processing on the affected queue.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-26 14:57:11 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

veth: fix queue index used to wake the peer txq in veth_poll

veth_poll() derives the index of the peer TX queue to wake from
rq->xdp_rxq.queue_index. That field is only initialized by
xdp_rxq_info_reg() in veth_enable_xdp_range(), which runs only when an
XDP program is attached. On the plain GRO/NAPI path
(veth_napi_enable_range()) xdp_rxq_info_reg() is never called, so
queue_index stays 0 for every queue, as priv->rq is zero-allocated.

So in a multi-queue setup with GRO enabled and no XDP program attached,
every NAPI instance looks at the peer's TX queue 0. If veth_xmit() stops
peer TX queue 1 because the ptr_ring is full (NETDEV_TX_BUSY), nothing
ever wakes it again: the poller draining queue 1 wakes queue 0 instead.
veth implements no ndo_tx_timeout, so the netdev watchdog does not kick
in either, and the queue stays stopped indefinitely.

Derive the index from the position of the rq within priv->rq instead,
which is correct regardless of whether XDP was ever enabled.

Scripts to reproduce the stall are available at
https://github.com/netoptimizer/veth-backpressure-performance-testing