[PATCH net v3 0/2] tcp: clamp return value of tcp_wmem_schedule() to non-negative

From: Octavian Purdila

Date: Wed Oct 21 2026 - 14:55:14 EST


This series fixes a bug discovered in production in tcp_wmem_schedule()
where a negative sk->sk_forward_alloc under TCP memory pressure causes
tcp_wmem_schedule() to return a negative copy length when
sk->sk_wmem_queued already reaches or exceeds sysctl_tcp_wmem[0].

sk->sk_forward_alloc can transiently become negative when tcp_collapse()
re-packs partially read or high payload-to-truesize SKBs in the receive
queue and charges newly allocated SKBs via sk_mem_charge() before
freeing the original SKBs. When a subsequent send hits memory pressure
in sk_wmem_schedule() with sk->sk_wmem_queued >= sysctl_tcp_wmem[0],
tcp_wmem_schedule() returns min(copy, sk->sk_forward_alloc) < 0.
Callers such as tcp_sendmsg_locked() then pass that negative copy length
to skb_copy_to_page_nocache() -> copy_from_iter_full() ->
check_copy_size(), triggering WARN_ON_ONCE(bytes > INT_MAX) in
production and returning -EFAULT instead of waiting for memory or
returning -EAGAIN.

Patch 1 clamps the return value of tcp_wmem_schedule() to [0, copy] so
a negative sk->sk_forward_alloc is treated as 0 available bytes.
Patch 2 adds a packetdrill selftest that reproduces the negative
sk->sk_forward_alloc condition via tcp_collapse() under memory pressure
and verifies that a non-blocking write fails with EAGAIN rather than
EFAULT.

Changes in v3:
- Fix packetdrill test failure in netdev CI (CONFIG_MAX_SKB_FRAGS=17):
adjust segment sizes (35 KB) and buffer limits so the receive SKB
truesize is identical across CONFIG_MAX_SKB_FRAGS=17 and 45, and
tcp_collapse() deterministically drives sk_forward_alloc below -16 KB
without invoking the memcg OOM killer.

Changes in v2:
- Include production warning trace in Patch 1 commit message.
- Skip the packetdrill test when PAGE_SIZE != 4096 via
--define=REQUIRES_PAGESIZE="4096" in ksft_runner.sh.
- Collect Reviewed-by tags from Kuniyuki Iwashima and Eric Dumazet.

Octavian Purdila (2):
tcp: clamp return value of tcp_wmem_schedule() to non-negative
selftests: net: packetdrill: add test for negative sk_forward_alloc in
tcp_wmem_schedule()

net/ipv4/tcp.c | 2 +-
.../testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/config | 2 +
.../selftests/net/packetdrill/ksft_runner.sh | 6 +
.../tcp_wmem_schedule_negative_fwd_alloc.pkt | 108 ++++++++++++++++++
4 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/net/packetdrill/tcp_wmem_schedule_negative_fwd_alloc.pkt

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2.56.0.307.g5fe7bd680c-goog