[PATCH net v4] tipc: fix broadcast sender hang on last acker departure

From: Henry Martin

Date: Mon Oct 19 2026 - 08:03:19 EST


TIPC group broadcast senders are blocked while a replicast still has
outstanding member acks: tipc_group_bc_cong() returns true as long as
grp->bc_ackers is non-zero, and clears *grp->open, which is what
tipc_poll() uses to report EPOLLOUT (via tsk->group_is_open).

When the last outstanding acker departs before acking,
tipc_group_delete_member() decrements grp->bc_ackers to zero but
never restores *grp->open. As a result poll(EPOLLOUT) never fires
again. A writer blocked in sendmsg() is only released if some other
wakeup happens after the deletion: with TIPC_GROUP_MEMBER_EVTS the
leave event delivery calls sk_data_ready() and wakes it, but without
member events nothing does and it sleeps indefinitely, since the
default send timeout is MAX_SCHEDULE_TIMEOUT.

Commit 99cc2a62e07a ("tipc: reject invalid and unexpected
GRP_ACK_MSG to prevent bc_ackers underflow") already calls this out
in its changelog as a pre-existing issue.

Restore the open state exactly on the 1->0 transition in the delete
path, mirroring the GRP_ACK_MSG completion path, and invoke
sk->sk_write_space() from tipc_sk_filter_rcv() when the group just
became writable again.

Also make the ack accounting precise. The delete path used to test
less(m->bc_acked, grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1), which also matches members
that were never counted for the current replicast (JOINING/LEAVING
members keep a stale bc_acked), and the GRP_ACK_MSG handler accepted
an ack from any member whose bc_acked differed from the expected
value. Either could zero bc_ackers on behalf of a member that owes
nothing and silently void an ack still owed by a real acker. Track
whether a member owes an ack for the current replicast in a new
per-member bc_pending flag, set when the member is counted and
cleared when its ack arrives, and use it both to accept an ack and
to decide on deletion. bc_acked has no remaining user and is
removed. Suggested by Tung Quang Nguyen.

This issue was discovered by Tencent CodeBuddy Security.

Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 2f487712b893 ("tipc: guarantee that group broadcast doesn't bypass group unicast")
Signed-off-by: Henry Martin <bsdhenrymartin@xxxxxxxxx>
---

v4: Assign bc_pending inside the receiver loop body in the simple
form requested by Jon Maloy (m->bc_pending = ack); bc_ackers==0
implies no member has bc_pending set (a pending flag is cleared
either by the member's ack or by its deletion), so skipping
non-receivers cannot leave stale state.

v3: Correct the changelog: tipc_group_bc_cong() only writes *grp->open,
and a blocked sendmsg() hangs only when nothing wakes it after the
deletion (e.g. member events disabled); also require bc_pending
in the GRP_ACK_MSG handler so an uncounted member cannot decrement
bc_ackers, and drop the now unused bc_acked field.

v2: Subject no longer claims a leak; add the reproduction; the delete
path now discriminates members that were actually counted for the
current replicast via a new per-member bc_pending flag instead
of comparing a possibly stale bc_acked (Tung Quang Nguyen).

Reproduction (two QEMU guests, TIPC over UDP bearer, groups joined
without member events; the acking peer withheld GRP_ACK_MSG via a
test-only knob to emulate the lossy peer, the sender's kernel ran
unmodified TIPC):

UNPATCHED (#88/#90, fix absent):
sender: NO POLLOUT for 30s after member departed -> STALL
sender2: R2 NEVER returned in 32s (blocked writer not woken)
PATCHED (#89, v1 of this patch):
sender: POLLOUT at t=18.5s, when the leave event was delivered
sender2: R2 returned at t=18.6s, EHOSTUNREACH on now-empty group

net/tipc/group.c | 19 ++++++++++---------
net/tipc/socket.c | 12 +++++++++++-
2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/tipc/group.c b/net/tipc/group.c
index 74f6d3dac0784..0c6a762000b02 100644
--- a/net/tipc/group.c
+++ b/net/tipc/group.c
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ struct tipc_member {
u16 window;
u16 bc_rcv_nxt;
u16 bc_syncpt;
- u16 bc_acked;
+ bool bc_pending;
};

struct tipc_group {
@@ -316,7 +316,6 @@ static struct tipc_member *tipc_group_create_member(struct tipc_group *grp,
m->node = node;
m->port = port;
m->instance = instance;
- m->bc_acked = grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1;
ret = tipc_group_add_to_tree(grp, m);
if (ret < 0) {
kfree(m);
@@ -340,9 +339,12 @@ static void tipc_group_delete_member(struct tipc_group *grp,
rb_erase(&m->tree_node, &grp->members);
grp->member_cnt--;

- /* Check if we were waiting for replicast ack from this member */
- if (grp->bc_ackers && less(m->bc_acked, grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1))
- grp->bc_ackers--;
+ /* If this member owed an ack for the current replicast and it
+ * was the last one, restore the open state so blocked broadcast
+ * senders can proceed.
+ */
+ if (grp->bc_ackers && m->bc_pending && !--grp->bc_ackers)
+ *grp->open = true;

list_del_init(&m->list);
list_del_init(&m->small_win);
@@ -394,7 +396,6 @@ void tipc_group_update_member(struct tipc_member *m, int len)

void tipc_group_update_bc_members(struct tipc_group *grp, int len, bool ack)
{
- u16 prev = grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1;
struct tipc_member *m;
struct rb_node *n;
u16 ackers = 0;
@@ -403,8 +404,8 @@ void tipc_group_update_bc_members(struct tipc_group *grp, int len, bool ack)
m = container_of(n, struct tipc_member, tree_node);
if (tipc_group_is_receiver(m)) {
tipc_group_update_member(m, len);
- m->bc_acked = prev;
ackers++;
+ m->bc_pending = ack;
}
}

@@ -800,9 +801,9 @@ void tipc_group_proto_rcv(struct tipc_group *grp, bool *usr_wakeup,
if (!m || !grp->bc_ackers)
return;
acked = msg_grp_bc_acked(hdr);
- if (acked != grp->bc_snd_nxt || m->bc_acked == acked)
+ if (acked != grp->bc_snd_nxt || !m->bc_pending)
return;
- m->bc_acked = acked;
+ m->bc_pending = false;
if (--grp->bc_ackers)
return;
list_del_init(&m->small_win);
diff --git a/net/tipc/socket.c b/net/tipc/socket.c
index d5d70eb230b56..65cc0c4964b31 100644
--- a/net/tipc/socket.c
+++ b/net/tipc/socket.c
@@ -2356,8 +2356,18 @@ static void tipc_sk_filter_rcv(struct sock *sk, struct sk_buff *skb,
if (unlikely(!msg_isdata(hdr)))
tipc_sk_proto_rcv(sk, &inputq, xmitq);

- if (unlikely(grp))
+ if (unlikely(grp)) {
+ bool was_open = tsk->group_is_open;
+
tipc_group_filter_msg(grp, &inputq, xmitq);
+ /* A departing member may have held the last outstanding
+ * replicast ack, which can restore the open state inside
+ * tipc_group_filter_msg(); wake up senders blocked in
+ * poll()/write() if the group just became writable.
+ */
+ if (!was_open && tsk->group_is_open)
+ sk->sk_write_space(sk);
+ }

if (unlikely(!grp) && mtyp == TIPC_MCAST_MSG)
tipc_mcast_filter_msg(net, &tsk->mc_method.deferredq, &inputq);
--
2.43.7