Bug 2554946 (CVE-2026-98550) - CVE-2026-98550 kernel: tipc: reject invalid and unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG to prevent bc_ackers underflow
Summary: CVE-2026-98550 kernel: tipc: reject invalid and unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG to pre...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-98550
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-10-18 15:34 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-20 00:18 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:34:50 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tipc: reject invalid and unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG to prevent bc_ackers underflow

Commit 48a5fe38772b ("tipc: fix bc_ackers underflow on duplicate
GRP_ACK_MSG") rejected duplicate/stale ACKs in tipc_group_proto_rcv()
by returning early when less_eq(acked, m->bc_acked).

However, that check remains incomplete in two ways:

1. When grp->bc_ackers is zero (e.g. on a quiet group, when replicast
   ACKs were not requested, or after all expected members have already
   acknowledged), an unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG with acked > m->bc_acked
   passes less_eq() and unconditionally decrements grp->bc_ackers.
   Because bc_ackers is a u16, this wraps to 65535, causing
   tipc_group_bc_cong() to permanently report congestion and blocking
   all future group broadcasts on the socket.

2. During an active broadcast round (grp->bc_ackers > 0), the sender
   transmits packet S and advances grp->bc_snd_nxt to S + 1. Receivers
   increment their expected counter to S + 1 upon consuming packet S,
   so the only valid ACK value for the current round is strictly
   acked == grp->bc_snd_nxt.

   However, tipc_group_update_bc_members() initializes each member's
   m->bc_acked to prev = grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1 (S - 1 before increment).
   This leaves a 2-sequence gap (S - 1 to S + 1) in sequence space.
   An incoming ACK is therefore neither rejected as duplicate nor
   prevented from decrementing grp->bc_ackers if an unexpected or stale
   value (such as S) is received. A member sending acked = S followed
   by acked = S + 1 could decrement grp->bc_ackers twice in the same
   round, prematurely clearing bc_ackers or underflowing it.

Fix this by:
- Dropping GRP_ACK_MSG immediately if grp->bc_ackers is zero.
- Requiring acked == grp->bc_snd_nxt and rejecting duplicates where
  m->bc_acked == acked. Because replicast broadcast rounds are strictly
  sequential, only grp->bc_snd_nxt can be acknowledged, and each member
  can acknowledge at most once per round.

Note that a related pre-existing issue in tipc_group_delete_member()
(where grp->bc_ackers decrementing to zero upon member departure does
not restore *grp->open or trigger a socket wakeup) will be addressed
in a separate patch.


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