Bug 2492137 (CVE-2026-52943) - CVE-2026-52943 kernel: net: skbuff: fix missing zerocopy reference in pskb_carve helpers
Summary: CVE-2026-52943 kernel: net: skbuff: fix missing zerocopy reference in pskb_ca...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-52943
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-06-24 11:01 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-07-30 21:17 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-06-24 11:01:17 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: skbuff: fix missing zerocopy reference in pskb_carve helpers

pskb_carve_inside_header() and pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() both copy
the old skb_shared_info header into a new buffer via memcpy(), which
includes the destructor_arg pointer (uarg) for MSG_ZEROCOPY skbs.
Neither function calls net_zcopy_get() for the new shinfo, creating an
unaccounted holder: every skb_shared_info with destructor_arg set will
call skb_zcopy_clear() once when freed, but the corresponding
net_zcopy_get() was never called for the new copy. Repeated calls
drive uarg->refcnt to zero prematurely, freeing ubuf_info_msgzc while
TX skbs still hold live destructor_arg pointers.

KASAN reports use-after-free on a freed ubuf_info_msgzc:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in skb_release_data+0x77b/0x810
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff88801574d3e8 by task poc/220

  Call Trace:
   skb_release_data+0x77b/0x810
   kfree_skb_list_reason+0x13e/0x610
   skb_release_data+0x4cd/0x810
   sk_skb_reason_drop+0xf3/0x340
   skb_queue_purge_reason+0x282/0x440
   rds_tcp_inc_free+0x1e/0x30
   rds_recvmsg+0x354/0x1780
   __sys_recvmsg+0xdf/0x180

  Allocated by task 219:
   msg_zerocopy_realloc+0x157/0x7b0
   tcp_sendmsg_locked+0x2892/0x3ba0

  Freed by task 219:
   ip_recv_error+0x74a/0xb10
   tcp_recvmsg+0x475/0x530

The skb consuming the late access still referenced the same uarg via
shinfo->destructor_arg copied by pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() without
a refcount bump. This has been verified to be reliably exploitable: a
working proof-of-concept achieves full root privilege escalation from
an unprivileged local user on a default kernel configuration.

The fix follows the pattern of pskb_expand_head() which has the same
memcpy/cloned structure. For pskb_carve_inside_header(), net_zcopy_get()
is placed after skb_orphan_frags() succeeds, so the orphan error path
needs no cleanup. For pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear(), net_zcopy_get() is
placed after all failure points and just before skb_release_data(), so
no error path needs cleanup at all -- matching pskb_expand_head() more
closely and avoiding the need for a balancing net_zcopy_put().

Comment 5 Akiyoshi Kurita 2026-07-30 21:17:02 UTC
Summary:
Please re-check the RHEL impact of CVE-2026-52943

Description:

Hello,

Red Hat currently lists CVE-2026-52943 as not affecting supported RHEL products.

However, a working local privilege escalation exploit has now been publicly released. The exploit achieves root privileges from an unprivileged local user by exploiting a use-after-free in the skbuff MSG_ZEROCOPY handling.

The issue is fixed by the following upstream commit:

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/98d0912e9f841e5529a5b89a972805f34cb1c69d

Fix title:

net: skbuff: fix missing zerocopy reference in pskb_carve helpers

The public exploit repository is available here:

https://github.com/vn-lazyming/CVE-2026-52943

The repository includes executable exploit code and a QEMU reproduction environment. The author reports successful root privilege escalation on:

Linux 6.12.89 LTS
Oracle Linux 10.1 UEK R8 kernel 6.12.0-202.76.4.2

The vulnerability occurs because pskb_carve_inside_header() and pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() copy the MSG_ZEROCOPY destructor_arg without incrementing its reference count, allowing ubuf_info_msgzc to be freed while it is still referenced.

Could you please confirm whether the vulnerable code path introduced by commit 6fa01cc is absent from the RHEL 8, 9, and 10 kernels?

In particular, since RHEL 10 uses a 6.12-based kernel, could you please re-check whether RHEL 10 is genuinely unaffected or whether the upstream fix needs to be backported?

Thank you.


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.