[PATCH] net: gro: don't chain linear parts larger than gso_size into frag_list

From: Sorah Fukumori

Date: Tue Oct 13 2026 - 07:44:33 EST


skb_gro_receive() chains an skb into the frag_list of the held packet
when its payload cannot be attached as page frags, i.e. when its head
is not a page fragment and still holds payload. Since commit
5eddb24901ee ("gro: add support of (hw)gro packets to gro stack"), that
skb may itself be a GSO packet whose linear part holds several
gso_size segments. skb_segment() cannot split the linear part of a
frag_list member across segments, so segmenting the aggregate in
software, e.g. when forwarding it to a device without NETIF_F_FRAGLIST,
hits

BUG_ON(skb_headlen(list_skb) > len);

Fully linear GSO packets come from generic XDP. When the program does
not support frags, netif_skb_check_for_xdp() linearizes any nonlinear
skb with pskb_expand_head() and skb_linearize() and keeps its GSO
metadata. GRO on the device runs before generic XDP, so each aggregate
passed by the program carries all of its payload in a kmalloc'ed head.
A tunnel that decapsulates these packets and runs GRO again through
gro_cells then builds the bad frag_list. This was first seen on a
router that forwards TCP received over VXLAN, with a non-frags XDP
program attached in SKB mode to the underlying bond because one slave
lacks native XDP:

kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:4917!
RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0xbb6/0xf40
Call Trace:
tcp_gso_segment
ipv6_gso_segment
skb_mac_gso_segment
__skb_gso_segment
validate_xmit_skb
__dev_queue_xmit
ip6_output
ip6_sublist_rcv_finish
ipv6_list_rcv
netif_receive_skb_list_internal
gro_complete
dev_gro_receive
gro_receive_skb
gro_cell_poll
__napi_poll
net_rx_action

It reproduces with three network namespaces: TCP sent over VXLAN on an
IPv6 veth link to a router namespace that has an XDP_PASS program
without frags support attached to the underlay veth in generic mode
and GRO enabled on its VXLAN device, and forwards to a veth with
tx-scatter-gather-fraglist disabled.

Refuse the merge when the linear part to be chained exceeds the held
packet's gso_size. tcp_gro_receive() then flushes the held packet and
the skb starts a new GRO packet as its head, whose linear length
skb_segment() handles.

Fixes: 5eddb24901ee ("gro: add support of (hw)gro packets to gro stack")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: claude-opus-5-5
Signed-off-by: Sorah Fukumori <her@xxxxxxxx>
---
net/core/gro.c | 4 ++++
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/core/gro.c b/net/core/gro.c
index 29b4d02bf519..ff828a3dce3c 100644
--- a/net/core/gro.c
+++ b/net/core/gro.c
@@ -187,6 +187,10 @@ int skb_gro_receive(struct sk_buff *p, struct sk_buff *skb)
}

merge:
+ /* skb_segment() cannot split the linear part of a frag_list member. */
+ if (unlikely(headlen > offset + skb_shinfo(p)->gso_size))
+ return -E2BIG;
+
/* sk ownership - if any - completely transferred to the aggregated packet */
skb->destructor = NULL;
skb->sk = NULL;
--
2.55.0