[PATCH net] net/core: add xmit recursion limit to qdisc transmit path

From: bestswngs

Date: Mon Mar 02 2026 - 21:38:22 EST


From: Weiming Shi <bestswngs@xxxxxxxxx>

__dev_queue_xmit() has two transmit code paths depending on whether the
device has a qdisc attached:

1. Qdisc path (q->enqueue): calls __dev_xmit_skb()
2. No-qdisc path: calls dev_hard_start_xmit() directly

Commit 745e20f1b626 ("net: add a recursion limit in xmit path") added
recursion protection to the no-qdisc path via dev_xmit_recursion()
check and dev_xmit_recursion_inc()/dec() tracking. However, the qdisc
path performs no recursion depth checking at all.

This allows unbounded recursion through qdisc-attached devices. For
example, a bond interface in broadcast mode with gretap slaves whose
remote endpoints route back through the bond creates an infinite
transmit loop that exhausts the kernel stack:

BUG: KASAN: stack-out-of-bounds in blake2s.constprop.0+0xe7/0x160
Write of size 32 at addr ffff88810033fed0 by task kworker/0:1/11
Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__build_flow_key.constprop.0 (net/ipv4/route.c:515)
ip_rt_update_pmtu (net/ipv4/route.c:1073)
iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:84)
ip_tunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:847)
gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802)
bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312)
bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279)
bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841)
ip_finish_output2 (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:237)
ip_output (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:438)
iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:86)
gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802)
bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312)
bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279)
bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841)
ip_finish_output2 (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:237)
ip_output (net/ipv4/ip_output.c:438)
iptunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel_core.c:86)
ip_tunnel_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c:847)
gre_tap_xmit (net/ipv4/ip_gre.c:779)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:347)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4802)
bond_dev_queue_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:312)
bond_xmit_broadcast (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5279)
bond_start_xmit (drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c:5530)
dev_hard_start_xmit (net/core/dev.c:3887)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4841)
mld_sendpack
mld_ifc_work
process_one_work
worker_thread
</TASK>

poc (76) used greatest stack depth: 8 bytes left

The per-queue qdisc_run_begin() serialization does not prevent this
because each gretap slave can have multiple TX queues, so each
recursion level may select a different queue. The q->owner check also
fails because each level operates on a different qdisc instance.

Fix by adding the same recursion protection to the qdisc path that
the no-qdisc path already has: check dev_xmit_recursion() before
entering __dev_xmit_skb(), and bracket the call with
dev_xmit_recursion_inc()/dec() to properly track nesting depth
across both transmit paths.

Fixes: bbd8a0d3a3b6 ("net: Avoid enqueuing skb for default qdiscs")
Reported-by: Xiang Mei <xmei5@xxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Weiming Shi <bestswngs@xxxxxxxxx>
---
net/core/dev.c | 10 ++++++++++
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index c1a9f7fdcffa..d5d929df67be 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -4799,7 +4799,17 @@ int __dev_queue_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *sb_dev)

trace_net_dev_queue(skb);
if (q->enqueue) {
+ if (unlikely(dev_xmit_recursion())) {
+ net_crit_ratelimited("Dead loop on virtual device %s, fix it urgently!\n",
+ dev->name);
+ rc = -ENETDOWN;
+ dev_core_stats_tx_dropped_inc(dev);
+ kfree_skb_list(skb);
+ goto out;
+ }
+ dev_xmit_recursion_inc();
rc = __dev_xmit_skb(skb, q, dev, txq);
+ dev_xmit_recursion_dec();
goto out;
}

--
2.43.0