[BUG] TCP connection deadlock under simultaneous bidirectional ICSK_ACK_NOMEM (OOM)
From: xietangxin
Date: Thu Jun 04 2026 - 05:06:44 EST
Hi all,
We have observed a TCP connection deadlock on stable 6.6 under heavy stress testing.
1.Both Peer A and Peer B enter the ICSK_ACK_NOMEM branch in tcp_select_window().
After commit 8c670bdfa58e ("tcp: correct handling of extreme memory squeeze"),
Both peers freeze their rcv_nxt and set rcv_wnd = 0.
2.Prior to freezing, both sides had already sent out flight data.
Since both sides are dropping incoming data packets due to OOM, rcv_nxt stops advancing,
but the peer's seq of subsequent packets continues to grow.
3.When Peer A receives Peer B's Zero Window ACK,
the packet's seq is far ahead of Peer A's frozen rcv_nxt.
Both peers drop each other's packet, also no Zero Window Probes are triggered
because snd_wnd is never updated to 0.
Simplified Packet Trace:
Assume Peer A's rcv_nxt = 1000, and Peer B's rcv_nxt = 5000 initially.
Time Dir Type Seq Ack Win Len Status
------------------------------------------------------------------------
T1: B -> A [PSH, ACK] 1000 5000 3000 100 (A hits OOM, rcv_nxt=1000)
T2: B -> A [ACK] 1100 5000 3000 200 (Dropped due to A's OOM)
T3: B -> A [PSH, ACK] 1300 5000 3000 200 (Dropped due to A's OOM)
T4: A -> B [PSH, ACK] 5000 1000 3000 100 (B hits OOM, rcv_nxt=5000)
T5: A -> B [ACK] 5100 1000 3000 200 (Dropped due to B's OOM)
T6: A -> B [PSH, ACK] 5300 1000 3000 200 (Dropped due to B's OOM)
-- Both sides are now in OOM. B's Seq is 1500; A's Seq is 5500 --
T7: B -> A [ZeroWin] 1500 5000 0 0 (Dropped: Seq 1500 != 1000)
T8: A -> B [ZeroWin] 5500 1000 0 0 (Dropped: Seq 5500 != 5000)
T9: A -> B [WinUpdate] 5500 1000 20 0 (Dropped: Seq 5500 != 5000)
Should we relax the sequence check in tcp_sequence() for zero window ACK?
Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
--
Best regards,
Tangxin Xie