[PATCH net v6] ip6_gre: use skb_vlan_inet_prepare() instead of pskb_inet_may_pull()

From: Anton Danilov

Date: Wed Oct 07 2026 - 21:26:15 EST


ip6gre_tunnel_xmit() and ip6erspan_tunnel_xmit() check the packet length
with pskb_inet_may_pull(), which looks at skb->protocol only, while the
code that follows parses the packet through VLAN tags with
skb_protocol(skb, true). The parsing started to look through the tags
with the two commits in the Fixes tags; the check was left as it was.
A VLAN-tagged frame whose inner IPv4/IPv6 header is not in the linear
area passes the check, and the inner header is read anyway. A 20 byte
tagged frame on ip6gretap and a 10 byte frame on ip6erspan are sent
out, while an untagged frame that is too short for its IP header is
already dropped.

Use skb_vlan_inet_prepare(), as the IPv6 receive path does since
commit 81c734dae203 ("ip6_tunnel: use skb_vlan_inet_prepare() in
__ip6_tnl_rcv()"). The second argument (inner_proto_inherit) depends on
the device: ip6gre_tunnel_xmit() serves both ip6gre (ARPHRD_IP6GRE, no
MAC header) and ip6gretap (ARPHRD_ETHER), so it is
dev->type != ARPHRD_ETHER there; ip6erspan is always an Ethernet device,
so it is false. vxlan does the same with no_eth_encap.

skb_vlan_inet_prepare() walks the VLAN tags from skb->mac_len - VLAN_HLEN,
or from ETH_HLEN if skb->mac_len is 0, and on transmit skb->mac_len is
still what the skb was received with. For a packet that came in through
an NBMA gre device and is routed out of a VLAN on ip6gretap or ip6erspan,
the walk starts inside the inner IPv4 header. Clear skb->mac_len for
Ethernet devices first.

An ip6gre device created without a remote uses ip6gre_header_ops, and
ip6gre_header() pushes a pseudo IPv6 header in front of the packet, so
there skb->data is not where the packet starts. skb_vlan_inet_prepare()
would move the network header onto that pseudo header, whose payload
length and GRE words are never written, and an ICMPv6 error for the
packet then quotes them: KMSAN reports uninit-value in
icmpv6_push_pending_frames(). Keep pskb_inet_may_pull() for that case,
as before this change.

With this change the two short frames above are dropped. gre_gso.sh,
l2_tos_ttl_inherit.sh and the mirror_gre, mirror_gre_vlan,
mirror_gre_bridge_1q and mirror_gre_changes forwarding selftests pass.
A constant true instead breaks the ip6gretap cases of mirror_gre.sh,
and a constant false breaks the ip6gre GSO cases of gre_gso.sh.

This fixes the length check in both functions, and the skb_protocol()
dispatch in ip6gre_tunnel_xmit() for ip6gretap and for ip6gre devices
created with a remote. Four related, pre-existing problems are left for
follow-up patches:

- ip6_tnl_xmit() parses the VLAN tags once more after the GRE header
has been pushed, so for a tagged frame on ip6gretap with a key or
on ip6erspan the TTL and traffic class are not inherited, and if
the bytes that parse lands on happen to read as ETH_P_IP, an
inherited hop limit is taken from past the end of the frame;
- erspan_build_header() and erspan_build_header_v2() read the TOS and,
behind an 0x8100 EtherType, the TCI without checking that the frame
is long enough, so a 14 to 19 byte frame that passes the check here
still gets bytes from past its end into the ERSPAN header;
- the ip6gre header_ops branch kept above still has the check/parse
mismatch once a remote is set with changelink;
- gre_tap_xmit(), erspan_xmit() and ip_tunnel_rcv() on the IPv4 side
have the same mismatch.

Fixes: 3f8a8447fd0b ("ip6_gre: use actual protocol to select xmit")
Fixes: b09ab9c92e50 ("ip6_tunnel: allow to inherit from VLAN encapsulated IP")
Reported-by: syzbot+6023ea32e206eef7920a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=6023ea32e206eef7920a
Suggested-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Anton Danilov <littlesmilingcloud@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v6: no functional change from v5; commit message only. The AI review
of v5 again pointed at wording that reads wider than the code:
"fixes the dispatch in ip6gre_tunnel_xmit()" now excludes the
header_ops branch, which keeps the old check; the
erspan_build_header() reads on 14 to 19 byte frames are listed as
a follow-up instead of "the short frame is dropped" suggesting that
all of them are; and the ip6_tnl_xmit() item says that an inherited
hop limit can come from past the end of a crafted frame, not only
from the wrong offset. Measured on net and on this patch: the same
bytes, see the reply to the review.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/179141499719.434549.15788178109134377075@xxxxxxxxxx/
v5: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20261005231414.932997-1-littlesmilingcloud@xxxxxxxxx/
v4: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20261004145205.226974-1-littlesmilingcloud@xxxxxxxxx/
v3: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260119112512.28196-1-fw@xxxxxxxxx/
v2: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260106144529.1424886-1-edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx/
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260105100330.2258612-1-edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx/

net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c b/net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c
index 04f7c70b7320..06dd53c5a9e2 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c
@@ -883,8 +883,23 @@ static netdev_tx_t ip6gre_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb,
__be16 payload_protocol;
int ret;

- if (!pskb_inet_may_pull(skb))
- goto tx_err;
+ if (dev->type != ARPHRD_ETHER && dev->header_ops) {
+ /* ip6gre_header() has pushed a pseudo header in front of
+ * the packet, so skb->data is not where the packet starts.
+ */
+ if (!pskb_inet_may_pull(skb))
+ goto tx_err;
+ } else {
+ /* skb_vlan_inet_prepare() and the skb_protocol() dispatch
+ * below walk the VLAN tags from skb->mac_len - VLAN_HLEN, or
+ * from ETH_HLEN if it is 0; a forwarded skb still has the
+ * mac_len of the device it was received on.
+ */
+ if (dev->type == ARPHRD_ETHER)
+ skb->mac_len = 0;
+ if (skb_vlan_inet_prepare(skb, dev->type != ARPHRD_ETHER))
+ goto tx_err;
+ }

if (!ip6_tnl_xmit_ctl(t, &t->parms.laddr, &t->parms.raddr))
goto tx_err;
@@ -933,7 +948,13 @@ static netdev_tx_t ip6erspan_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb,
__u32 mtu;
int nhoff;

- if (!pskb_inet_may_pull(skb))
+ /* skb_vlan_inet_prepare() below walks the VLAN tags from
+ * skb->mac_len - VLAN_HLEN, or from ETH_HLEN if it is 0, to check
+ * the length; a forwarded skb still has the mac_len of the device
+ * it was received on.
+ */
+ skb->mac_len = 0;
+ if (skb_vlan_inet_prepare(skb, false))
goto tx_err;

if (!ip6_tnl_xmit_ctl(t, &t->parms.laddr, &t->parms.raddr))
--
2.47.3