Re: [PATCH] net: meth: check skb allocation in meth_init_rx_ring()

[Andrew Lunn]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2026 at 11:27:41AM +0530, Pavan Chebbi wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 22, 2026 at 10:20 AM Haoxiang Li <haoxiang_li2024@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > meth_init_rx_ring() does not check the return value of alloc_skb().
> > If the allocation fails, the NULL skb is passed to skb_reserve() and
> > then dereferenced through skb->head.
> >
> > Add check for alloc_skb() to prevent potential null pointer dereference.
> >
> > Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
> > Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Signed-off-by: Haoxiang Li <haoxiang_li2024@xxxxxxx>
> > ---
> >  drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c | 3 +++
> >  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c
> > index f7c3a5a766b7..ceff3cc937ad 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/sgi/meth.c
> > @@ -228,6 +228,9 @@ static int meth_init_rx_ring(struct meth_private *priv)
> >
> >         for (i = 0; i < RX_RING_ENTRIES; i++) {
> >                 priv->rx_skbs[i] = alloc_skb(METH_RX_BUFF_SIZE, 0);
> > +               if (!priv->rx_skbs[i])
> > +                       return -ENOMEM;
> > +
> 
> I think the fix is not complete. The caller meth_open() will not free
> any successfully allocated skbs if the function ever returns -ENOMEM.

There is also the question, does anybody care? Are SGI machines still
used? This is a Fast Ethernet driver, written in 2003. It has no
Maintainer. Maybe it would be better to just remove the driver?

At least drop the Fixes: tag, it does not fit the Stable rules.

https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/stable-kernel-rules.html

    Andrew

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