[PATCH net 2/2] net: tap: fix skb->protocol not updated after VLAN network header adjustment
From: wei . fang
Date: Wed Aug 05 2026 - 06:50:05 EST
From: Wei Fang <wei.fang@xxxxxxx>
In tap_get_user_xdp(), when processing a VLAN-tagged frame,
skb_set_network_header() is called with the depth returned by
vlan_get_protocol_and_depth() to advance network_header past the VLAN
tag to the inner protocol header. However, skb->protocol was not updated
to reflect the inner EtherType, leaving it pointing to the outer VLAN
EtherType (e.g. ETH_P_8021Q).
This mismatch has two consequences. First, skb_probe_transport_header()
is called after the VLAN adjustment with proto=ETH_P_8021Q but nhoff
already pointing past the VLAN tag to the inner header. The flow
dissector interprets the inner header bytes as a VLAN header, fails to
find a recognizable encapsulated protocol, and returns false.
Consequently, transport_header is never set and remains at its
uninitialized sentinel value (~0U), causing any subsequent
skb_transport_header() or udp_hdr() call to dereference a pointer
65535 bytes past skb->head, potentially corrupting arbitrary kernel
memory. Second, TC egress and eBPF programs that inspect skb->protocol
directly (e.g. bpf_skb_net_base_len(), bpf_skb_net_grow(),
__bpf_redirect_neigh()) will see ETH_P_8021Q instead of the inner
protocol and behave incorrectly.
Save the return value of vlan_get_protocol_and_depth(), which already
resolves the inner EtherType, and assign it to skb->protocol after
skb_set_network_header(). This keeps skb->protocol and network_header
consistent for all subsequent processing.
Fixes: 8c76e77f9069 ("tap: call skb_probe_transport_header after setting skb->dev")
Assisted-by: WChat:claude-opus-4-8
Signed-off-by: Wei Fang <wei.fang@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/tap.c | 12 +++++++++---
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/net/tap.c b/drivers/net/tap.c
index fae115915c8e..afcc4919bd04 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tap.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tap.c
@@ -1081,9 +1081,15 @@ static int tap_get_user_xdp(struct tap_queue *q, struct xdp_buff *xdp)
}
/* Move network header to the right position for VLAN tagged packets */
- if (eth_type_vlan(skb->protocol) &&
- vlan_get_protocol_and_depth(skb, skb->protocol, &depth) != 0)
- skb_set_network_header(skb, depth);
+ if (eth_type_vlan(skb->protocol)) {
+ __be16 proto = vlan_get_protocol_and_depth(skb, skb->protocol,
+ &depth);
+
+ if (proto != 0) {
+ skb_set_network_header(skb, depth);
+ skb->protocol = proto;
+ }
+ }
rcu_read_lock();
tap = rcu_dereference(q->tap);
--
2.34.1