[PATCH] esp: fix page frag reference leak on skb_to_sgvec failure

From: Alessandro Schino

Date: Sat May 16 2026 - 05:21:50 EST


From: e521588 <alessandro.schino@xxxxxx>

In esp_output_tail(), when esp->inplace is false, the old skb page frags
are replaced with a new page from the xfrm page_frag cache. The source
scatterlist (sg) is built from the old frags before the replacement, and
esp_ssg_unref() is responsible for releasing the old page references
after the crypto operation completes.

However, if the second skb_to_sgvec() call (which builds the destination
scatterlist from the new page) fails, the code jumps to error_free which
only calls kfree(tmp). The old page frag references captured in the
source scatterlist are never released:

1. sg[] is built from old frags via skb_to_sgvec() (no extra get_page)
2. nr_frags is set to 1 and frag[0] is replaced with the new page
3. Second skb_to_sgvec() fails -> goto error_free
4. kfree(tmp) frees the sg[] memory but old frags are not unref'd
5. kfree_skb() only releases frag[0] (the new page), not the old ones

Fix this by introducing esp_ssg_unref_frags(), a variant of
esp_ssg_unref() that unconditionally unrefs the source scatterlist
frags without checking req->src and req->dst, since those fields are
not yet initialized at this point. The new function is called before
the goto error_free when the second skb_to_sgvec() fails, at which
point the source scatterlist in tmp is fully populated.

The same issue exists in both esp4 and esp6 as the code is identical.

Fixes: cac2661c53f3 ("esp4: Avoid skb_cow_data whenever possible")
Fixes: 03e2a30f6a27 ("esp6: Avoid skb_cow_data whenever possible")

Signed-off-by: Alessandro Schino <7991aleschino@xxxxxxxxx>
---
net/ipv4/esp4.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++++++-
net/ipv6/esp6.c | 22 +++++++++++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv4/esp4.c b/net/ipv4/esp4.c
index 5c4b162c1bb5..bc5245c6a29a 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/esp4.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/esp4.c
@@ -119,6 +119,26 @@ static void esp_ssg_unref(struct xfrm_state *x, void *tmp, struct sk_buff *skb)
skb->pp_recycle);
}

+static void esp_ssg_unref_frags(struct xfrm_state *x, void *tmp,
+ struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+ struct crypto_aead *aead = x->data;
+ int extralen = 0;
+ u8 *iv;
+ struct aead_request *req;
+ struct scatterlist *sg;
+
+ if (x->props.flags & XFRM_STATE_ESN)
+ extralen += sizeof(struct esp_output_extra);
+
+ iv = esp_tmp_iv(aead, tmp, extralen);
+ req = esp_tmp_req(aead, iv);
+
+ for (sg = sg_next(req->src); sg; sg = sg_next(sg))
+ skb_page_unref(page_to_netmem(sg_page(sg)),
+ skb->pp_recycle);
+}
+
#ifdef CONFIG_INET_ESPINTCP
static struct sock *esp_find_tcp_sk(struct xfrm_state *x)
{
@@ -570,7 +590,7 @@ int esp_output_tail(struct xfrm_state *x, struct sk_buff *skb, struct esp_info *
(unsigned char *)esph - skb->data,
assoclen + ivlen + esp->clen + alen);
if (unlikely(err < 0)) {
- esp_ssg_unref(x, tmp, skb);
+ esp_ssg_unref_frags(x, tmp, skb);
goto error_free;
}
}
diff --git a/net/ipv6/esp6.c b/net/ipv6/esp6.c
index 9166e1da3615..9bb7242543d8 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/esp6.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/esp6.c
@@ -136,6 +136,26 @@ static void esp_ssg_unref(struct xfrm_state *x, void *tmp, struct sk_buff *skb)
skb->pp_recycle);
}

+static void esp_ssg_unref_frags(struct xfrm_state *x, void *tmp,
+ struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+ struct crypto_aead *aead = x->data;
+ int extralen = 0;
+ u8 *iv;
+ struct aead_request *req;
+ struct scatterlist *sg;
+
+ if (x->props.flags & XFRM_STATE_ESN)
+ extralen += sizeof(struct esp_output_extra);
+
+ iv = esp_tmp_iv(aead, tmp, extralen);
+ req = esp_tmp_req(aead, iv);
+
+ for (sg = sg_next(req->src); sg; sg = sg_next(sg))
+ skb_page_unref(page_to_netmem(sg_page(sg)),
+ skb->pp_recycle);
+}
+
#ifdef CONFIG_INET6_ESPINTCP
static struct sock *esp6_find_tcp_sk(struct xfrm_state *x)
{
@@ -601,7 +621,7 @@ int esp6_output_tail(struct xfrm_state *x, struct sk_buff *skb, struct esp_info
(unsigned char *)esph - skb->data,
assoclen + ivlen + esp->clen + alen);
if (unlikely(err < 0)) {
- esp_ssg_unref(x, tmp, skb);
+ esp_ssg_unref_frags(x, tmp, skb);
goto error_free;
}
}
--
2.41.0.windows.3