Bug 2536527 (CVE-2026-90054)

Summary: CVE-2026-90054 kernel: tcp: fix corruption of urgent data on multi-segment retransmit
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
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 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) urgent data handling. When TCP retransmits multi-segment packets while in urgent mode, the urgent pointer (urg_ptr) is incorrectly copied across segments. This error causes the receiver to misinterpret the urgent data's position, leading to the out-of-band data being processed as normal in-band data. Consequently, a remote attacker could exploit this to corrupt the TCP data stream.
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 18:18:25 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tcp: fix corruption of urgent data on multi-segment retransmit

On the normal xmit path, while in urgent mode we refuse to build a
multi-segment TSO packet, so every segment gets its own urg_ptr:

	/* tcp_write_xmit() */
	limit = mss_now;
	if (tso_segs > 1 && !tcp_urg_mode(tp))
		limit = tcp_mss_split_point(...);

The retransmit path has no such guard. __tcp_retransmit_skb() builds a
segs > 1 skb and hands it to the GSO layer, which only advances th->seq
per segment and copies urg_ptr verbatim:

	/* __tcp_retransmit_skb() */
	len = cur_mss * segs;		/* segs > 1, no urg_mode check */
	...
	/* tcp_gso_segment(): bumps seq only, urg_ptr is copied */

urg_ptr is an offset from the segment's own seq, so a copied value points
at a different place on each segment. The receiver rebuilds the absolute
urgent seq as seg.seq + urg_ptr, so it walks a moving urgent point instead
of the one OOB byte:

	seg1  seq 1     urg_ptr 5001 -> urgent @ 5001   (ok)
	seg2  seq 1001  urg_ptr 5001 -> urgent @ 6001   (wrong, +MSS)
	seg3  seq 2001  urg_ptr 5001 -> urgent @ 7001   (wrong, +2*MSS)

The real OOB byte is never pointed at, so the receiver stops splicing it
out and delivers it as normal in-band data, corrupting the stream.

Guard the retransmit length like the xmit path: keep segs = 1 while in
urgent mode.