Re: [PATCH] netfilter: TCPMSS: fix dropped packets when MSS option is unaligned

From: Florian Westphal

Date: Mon May 25 2026 - 17:28:55 EST


Kacper Kokot <kacper.kokot.44@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Padding TCP options with NOPs is optional, so it is legal to send an
> MSS option that is not aligned to a word boundary and therefore not
> aligned for checksum calculation. The current TCPMSS target is not
> robust to this: when the MSS option is unaligned it produces an
> invalid checksum, and the packet is dropped.

Is this an actual, real world bug? This code is 20+ years old, all that
this hints at is that they are always aligned in reality?

(Not disputing theoretical problem).