FKIE_CVE-2026-98158

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-09-25 11:17 - Updated: 2026-09-25 11:17
Severity
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ppp_async: drop the errored frame instead of resetting its headroom ppp_receive_nonmp_frame() prepends a two-byte direction tag before running the pass/active BPF filters: *(__be16 *)skb_push(skb, 2) = htons(PPP_FILTER_INBOUND_TAG); Nothing on the receive path guarantees those two bytes of headroom. The frame-error path in ppp_async's process_input_packet() resets a reused skb's headroom to zero while claiming to restore it to a freshly allocated state - but a fresh skb from dev_alloc_skb() carries NET_SKB_PAD: err: if (skb) { /* make skb appear as freshly allocated */ skb_trim(skb, 0); skb_reserve(skb, - skb_headroom(skb)); } ap->rpkt still points at that skb, so the next frame is reassembled into it with no headroom at all. A peer that sends a bad-FCS frame followed by one beginning ff 03 then leaves a single byte of headroom by the time the filter tag is pushed, which lands one byte below skb->head: skbuff: skb_under_panic: len:49 put:2 head:ffff888003c10000 data:ffff888003c0ffff tail:0x30 end:0x640 dev:<NULL> kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:214! RIP: 0010:skb_panic+0x13e/0x230 Call Trace: skb_push+0xbd/0x100 ppp_receive_nonmp_frame+0x48a/0x1d10 ppp_input+0x4e9/0x2f80 ppp_async_process+0x2a/0xe0 tasklet_action_common+0x20f/0x8a0 handle_softirqs+0x18e/0x590 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt Zeroing the headroom violates the NET_SKB_PAD guarantee that dev_alloc_skb() gives the rest of the receive path. Besides the filter panic above, when CCP compression is enabled ppp_decompress_frame() hands skb->data - 2 to ->decompress()/->incomp(), which then reads out of bounds before skb->head for the same reason. Rather than restore the headroom, drop the errored frame - as ppp_synctty already does on its error path - and clear ap->rpkt so the next frame is reassembled into a fresh skb with proper headroom. This is simpler and fixes both the filter under-panic and the CCP out-of-bounds read. The original V1 of this patch made room in ppp_receive_nonmp_frame() with skb_cow_head(); Eric pointed out that fixing the root cause in the transport is the right approach. Found by fuzzing the PPP receive path with a mutating peer on a pty; it is an interesting (remote) DoS: root configures PPP, the peer supplies two crashing frames. The reproducer (repro-ppp-skb.c, unchanged from v1) panics in about a second, and returns cleanly with this applied.
References
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c53eb14975f029abd6b26896a460f0d2aaefe6b
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/717137221c7d90e7c98bda9a370c9da6cbf015e5
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8dc5d98a16fa23c00999aecf10018c9f69fa5bf4
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0fc3dabfe67caf084e7119ceb2ee23f5ad2f2da
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/net/ppp/ppp_async.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "d0fc3dabfe67caf084e7119ceb2ee23f5ad2f2da",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6722e78c90054101e6797d5944cdc81af9897a0a",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "0c53eb14975f029abd6b26896a460f0d2aaefe6b",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6722e78c90054101e6797d5944cdc81af9897a0a",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "717137221c7d90e7c98bda9a370c9da6cbf015e5",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6722e78c90054101e6797d5944cdc81af9897a0a",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "8dc5d98a16fa23c00999aecf10018c9f69fa5bf4",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6722e78c90054101e6797d5944cdc81af9897a0a",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "drivers/net/ppp/ppp_async.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "2.6.15"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "2.6.15",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.111",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.53",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.7",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3-rc3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nppp_async: drop the errored frame instead of resetting its headroom\n\nppp_receive_nonmp_frame() prepends a two-byte direction tag before running\nthe pass/active BPF filters:\n\n\t*(__be16 *)skb_push(skb, 2) = htons(PPP_FILTER_INBOUND_TAG);\n\nNothing on the receive path guarantees those two bytes of headroom. The\nframe-error path in ppp_async\u0027s process_input_packet() resets a reused skb\u0027s\nheadroom to zero while claiming to restore it to a freshly allocated state -\nbut a fresh skb from dev_alloc_skb() carries NET_SKB_PAD:\n\n\terr:\n\t\tif (skb) {\n\t\t\t/* make skb appear as freshly allocated */\n\t\t\tskb_trim(skb, 0);\n\t\t\tskb_reserve(skb, - skb_headroom(skb));\n\t\t}\n\nap-\u003erpkt still points at that skb, so the next frame is reassembled into it\nwith no headroom at all. A peer that sends a bad-FCS frame followed by one\nbeginning ff 03 then leaves a single byte of headroom by the time the filter\ntag is pushed, which lands one byte below skb-\u003ehead:\n\n  skbuff: skb_under_panic: len:49 put:2 head:ffff888003c10000\n          data:ffff888003c0ffff tail:0x30 end:0x640 dev:\u003cNULL\u003e\n  kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:214!\n  RIP: 0010:skb_panic+0x13e/0x230\n  Call Trace:\n   skb_push+0xbd/0x100\n   ppp_receive_nonmp_frame+0x48a/0x1d10\n   ppp_input+0x4e9/0x2f80\n   ppp_async_process+0x2a/0xe0\n   tasklet_action_common+0x20f/0x8a0\n   handle_softirqs+0x18e/0x590\n  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt\n\nZeroing the headroom violates the NET_SKB_PAD guarantee that dev_alloc_skb()\ngives the rest of the receive path. Besides the filter panic above, when CCP\ncompression is enabled ppp_decompress_frame() hands skb-\u003edata - 2 to\n-\u003edecompress()/-\u003eincomp(), which then reads out of bounds before skb-\u003ehead\nfor the same reason.\n\nRather than restore the headroom, drop the errored frame - as ppp_synctty\nalready does on its error path - and clear ap-\u003erpkt so the next frame is\nreassembled into a fresh skb with proper headroom. This is simpler and fixes\nboth the filter under-panic and the CCP out-of-bounds read.\n\nThe original V1 of this patch made room in ppp_receive_nonmp_frame() with\nskb_cow_head(); Eric pointed out that fixing the root cause in the transport\nis the right approach.\n\nFound by fuzzing the PPP receive path with a mutating peer on a pty; it is an\ninteresting (remote) DoS: root configures PPP, the peer supplies two crashing\nframes. The reproducer (repro-ppp-skb.c, unchanged from v1) panics in about a\nsecond, and returns cleanly with this applied."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-98158",
  "lastModified": "2026-09-25T11:17:47.510",
  "metrics": {},
  "published": "2026-09-25T11:17:47.510",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c53eb14975f029abd6b26896a460f0d2aaefe6b"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/717137221c7d90e7c98bda9a370c9da6cbf015e5"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8dc5d98a16fa23c00999aecf10018c9f69fa5bf4"
    },
    {
      "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d0fc3dabfe67caf084e7119ceb2ee23f5ad2f2da"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
  "vulnStatus": "Received"
}



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