[PATCH net v2] fou: ensure GUE headers have enough headroom

From: Chengfeng Ye

Date: Fri Aug 21 2026 - 10:59:39 EST


ipgre_changelink() installs GUE encapsulation before it publishes the
new GRE header length and updates dev->needed_headroom. The transmit
path does not serialize with RTNL, so it can interleave as follows:

CPU 0 (ipgre_changelink) CPU 1 (ipgre_xmit)
install GUE encapsulation
reserve the old needed_headroom
publish larger GRE flags
update tunnel->tun_hlen
push the larger GRE header
push the GUE and UDP headers
update dev->needed_headroom

With REMCSUM, the new layout can push 16 bytes of GRE and 20 bytes of
GUE/UDP headers into an skb with only 32 bytes of actual headroom. The
final UDP push writes four bytes before skb->head.

With the update window widened, the kernel reported:

skbuff: skb_under_panic: ... len:128 put:8 ... dev:gre0poc
kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:214!
Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
Call Trace:
skb_push
fou_build_udp
gue_build_header
ip_tunnel_xmit
__gre_xmit
ipgre_xmit

Make __gue_build_header() ensure space for both the GUE header it is
about to push and the UDP header that follows. On normally sized skbs
the check is a no-op. If configuration changes race with transmission,
skb_cow_head() expands the head before either GUE write, or returns an
error without modifying the packet.

skb_cow_head() may move skb->head. Refresh skb-derived inner_iph
pointers after encapsulation, and read the tunnel fragment and TTL
fields before ip_tunnel_encap() so ip_tunnel_xmit() does not dereference
tnl_params after a possible skb head reallocation.

Fixes: dd9d598c6657 ("ip_gre: add the support for i/o_flags update via netlink")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Chengfeng Ye <nicoyip.dev@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v2:
- Refresh skb-derived inner_iph pointers after ip_tunnel_encap() and read
frag_off and ttl from tnl_params before ip_tunnel_encap(), because the new
skb_cow_head() in the GUE builder can move skb->head.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260801060115.3538849-1-nicoyip.dev@xxxxxxxxx/ [v1]

net/ipv4/fou_core.c | 2 ++
net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c | 7 +++++--
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv4/fou_core.c b/net/ipv4/fou_core.c
index ab09dfcdecbd..8cf0d43acb41 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/fou_core.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/fou_core.c
@@ -980,6 +980,8 @@ int __gue_build_header(struct sk_buff *skb, struct ip_tunnel_encap *e,
skb, 0, 0, false);

hdrlen = sizeof(struct guehdr) + optlen;
+ if (skb_cow_head(skb, hdrlen + sizeof(struct udphdr)))
+ return -ENOMEM;

skb_push(skb, hdrlen);

diff --git a/net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c b/net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c
index 9d114bd575f9..2bd684eb2ba2 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/ip_tunnel.c
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ void ip_md_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,

if (ip_tunnel_encap(skb, &tun_info->encap, &proto, &fl4) < 0)
goto tx_error;
+ inner_iph = (const struct iphdr *)skb_inner_network_header(skb);

use_cache = ip_tunnel_dst_cache_usable(skb, tun_info);
if (use_cache)
@@ -765,8 +766,12 @@ void ip_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
tunnel->net, READ_ONCE(tunnel->parms.link),
tunnel->fwmark, skb_get_hash(skb), 0);

+ df = tnl_params->frag_off;
+ ttl = tnl_params->ttl;
+
if (ip_tunnel_encap(skb, &tunnel->encap, &protocol, &fl4) < 0)
goto tx_error;
+ inner_iph = (const struct iphdr *)skb_inner_network_header(skb);

if (connected && md) {
use_cache = ip_tunnel_dst_cache_usable(skb, tun_info);
@@ -799,7 +804,6 @@ void ip_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
goto tx_error;
}

- df = tnl_params->frag_off;
if (payload_protocol == htons(ETH_P_IP) && !tunnel->ignore_df)
df |= (inner_iph->frag_off & htons(IP_DF));

@@ -821,7 +825,6 @@ void ip_tunnel_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev,
}

tos = ip_tunnel_ecn_encap(tos, inner_iph, skb);
- ttl = tnl_params->ttl;
if (ttl == 0) {
if (payload_protocol == htons(ETH_P_IP))
ttl = inner_iph->ttl;
--
2.43.0