gve: fix header buffer corruption with header-split and HW-GRO

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-72046
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerLinux
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-08-15 06:21:13 UTC
Updated2026-08-17 06:18:02 UTC
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gve: fix header buffer corruption with header-split and HW-GRO The DQO RX datapath programs a per-buffer-queue-descriptor header_buf_addr at post time and reads the split header back at completion time. Both the post and the read currently index the header buffer by queue position rather than by the buffer's identity: - post (gve_rx_post_buffers_dqo): header_buf_addr is computed from bufq->tail - read (gve_rx_dqo): the header is read from desc_idx (the completion queue head index) This relies on the buffer-queue index and the completion-queue index being equal for the start of every packet, i.e. on the device consuming posted buffers and returning completions in the exact same order. That assumption does not hold once HW-GRO is enabled with multiple flows: coalesced segments are accepted and completed in an order that may differ from the order buffers were posted, and segments from different flows may interleave. That results in two problems: 1. Wrong header slot on read. Because the read offset is derived from the completion index (desc_idx) while the device wrote the header to the address programmed for the buffer's buf_id, the driver can copy a header belonging to a different packet. This shows up as throughput drop (about 30% drop and large numbers of TCP retransmissions) with header-split and HW-GRO both enabled and many streams. 2. Header buffer reused while still owned by the device. The driver advances bufq->head by one per completion and re-posts buffers based on that. Arrival of N RX completions only guarantees that at least N RX buffer descriptors have been read by the device. It does not guarantee that the device has relinquished the ownership of all the buffers corresponding to those N descriptors. With out-of-order completions (e.g. the completion for a packet copied into buffer N arrives before the completion for a packet copied into buffer N-1), the driver can re-post and overwrite a header buffer that the device is still going to write into, corrupting the header of a packet whose completion has not yet been processed. Fix both issues by indexing the header buffer by buf_id on both the post and read paths. Reading from buf_id's slot is therefore always correct regardless of completion ordering (fixes problem 1). Indexing by buf_id also ties each header slot to the lifetime of its buffer state. A buffer state is only returned to the free/recycle lists when its own completion (buf_id) is processed, so its header slot can only be re-posted after the device is done with it. This makes header slot reuse safe under out-of-order completions (fixes problem 2). Allocate (gve_rx_alloc_hdr_bufs) and free (gve_rx_free_hdr_bufs) the header buffers based on num_buf_states to match the buf_id indexing.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.8 CRITICAL from 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS: 0.006260000 probability, percentile 0.470850000 (date 2026-08-17)

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67Secondary9.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED9.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Linux Linux affected 5e37d8254e7f551dda62e7590e819d69c7491845 84d3753d4bf284ef770ead6dee2270aaabb3ef41 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 5e37d8254e7f551dda62e7590e819d69c7491845 35267819b25074084130b6a7be18bbaf44d3ae74 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 5e37d8254e7f551dda62e7590e819d69c7491845 9f8e7f59b0c2f466be74bd923726b0f5496c27ad git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 5e37d8254e7f551dda62e7590e819d69c7491845 d676c9a73bdcd8237425dbb826f2bd1a25c36e40 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 6.9 Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.9 semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.12.101 6.12.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 6.18.40 6.18.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.1.5 7.1.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 7.2 * original_commit_for_fix Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
git.kernel.org/stable/c/84d3753d4bf284ef770ead6dee2270aaabb3ef41 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f8e7f59b0c2f466be74bd923726b0f5496c27ad 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/35267819b25074084130b6a7be18bbaf44d3ae74 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org/stable/c/d676c9a73bdcd8237425dbb826f2bd1a25c36e40 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 git.kernel.org
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