[PATCH v2] tcp: fix use-after-free of retransmit_skb_hint in tcp_send_synack()
From: Yilin Zhang
Date: Thu Sep 24 2026 - 00:49:46 EST
When tcp_send_synack() replaces the cloned SYN skb at the head of the
retransmit queue with a copy, it frees the original with
tcp_rtx_queue_unlink_and_free() and only repairs tp->highest_sack.
tp->retransmit_skb_hint keeps pointing at the freed
skbuff_fclone_cache object.
The dangling hint is read in tcp_verify_retransmit_hint() and used as
the root of the rbtree walk in tcp_xmit_retransmit_queue(). An
unprivileged TFO client (sendmsg(MSG_FASTOPEN)) can arm the hint with
an attacker-supplied ICMP fragmentation-needed message, after which a
simultaneous open frees the armed SYN skb:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tcp_mark_skb_lost (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:1316)
Read of size 4 at addr ffff88800604d928 by task swapper/1/0
Call Trace:
tcp_mark_skb_lost (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:1316)
tcp_simple_retransmit (net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:3158)
tcp_v4_err (net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:587)
Sync the hint to the copy.
Fixes: c31b70c9968f ("tcp: Add logic to check for SYN w/ data in tcp_simple_retransmit")
Reported-by: Kimi Security Team <bug-report@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Tested-by: Weiming Shi <shiweiming@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Yilin Zhang <yilinzhang@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v2:
- Correct the Fixes: tag (Eric Dumazet).
---
net/ipv4/tcp_output.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_output.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_output.c
index d960e3de7d50..e0c392e29de5 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_output.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_output.c
@@ -3886,6 +3886,7 @@ void tcp_send_active_reset(struct sock *sk, enum sk_rst_reason reason)
*/
int tcp_send_synack(struct sock *sk)
{
+ struct tcp_sock *tp = tcp_sk(sk);
struct sk_buff *skb;
skb = tcp_rtx_queue_head(sk);
@@ -3903,6 +3904,8 @@ int tcp_send_synack(struct sock *sk)
if (!nskb)
return -ENOMEM;
INIT_LIST_HEAD(&nskb->tcp_tsorted_anchor);
+ if (skb == tp->retransmit_skb_hint)
+ tp->retransmit_skb_hint = nskb;
tcp_highest_sack_replace(sk, skb, nskb);
tcp_rtx_queue_unlink_and_free(skb, sk);
__skb_header_release(nskb);
--
2.34.1