Bug 2536304 (CVE-2026-90078)

Summary: CVE-2026-90078 kernel: net/sched: act_skbmod: fix length calculations and avoid invalid header warnings
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's network scheduler component, `act_skbmod`. Incorrect length calculations when processing network packets can lead to an underflowed length value or cause the system to drop valid short packets. This vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by sending specially crafted network traffic, disrupting network communication.
 Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 17:17:25 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: act_skbmod: fix length calculations and avoid invalid header warnings

syzbot reported a warning in skb_network_header_len() triggered
by tcf_skbmod_act():

  !skb_transport_header_was_set(skb)
  WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 14949 at include/linux/skbuff.h:3243 skb_network_header_len include/linux/skbuff.h:3243 [inline]
  WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 14949 at net/sched/act_skbmod.c:55 tcf_skbmod_act+0xfe8/0x1810 net/sched/act_skbmod.c:55

There are a few issues in tcf_skbmod_act():

1. Calling skb_network_header_len() assumes skb->transport_header is set,
   which is not guaranteed when tcf_skbmod_act() runs at TC ingress.
2. Unconditionally calling skb_mac_header_len() at the beginning of
   tcf_skbmod_act() triggers a warning on L3 devices (e.g. TUN) where the
   MAC header is unset, evaluating to an underflowed garbage length.
3. On TC ingress, skb->data points to the network header. Adding the MAC
   header length to the IP header length causes skb_ensure_writable() to
   request more bytes than the actual IP packet length, dropping valid
   short packets (e.g. 28-byte UDP/IPv4 packets).

Fix these by:
- Using skb_network_offset(skb) + sizeof(struct iphdr/ipv6hdr) for
  SKBMOD_F_ECN so that the required length is correctly calculated on
  both ingress (offset == 0) and egress (offset == mac_len).
- Setting max_edit_len to ETH_HLEN for Ethernet header modifications
  after validating ARPHRD_ETHER.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-09-22 18:13:55 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-90078.mbox