[PATCH net] gtp: free the skb after handling an echo response
From: Joas Antonio dos Santos via B4 Relay
Date: Tue Nov 10 2026 - 04:06:15 EST
From: Joas Antonio dos Santos <joasantonio108@xxxxxxxxx>
gtp0_handle_echo_resp() and gtp1u_handle_echo_resp() return the result
of genlmsg_multicast_netns() to gtp_encap_recv(). When the netlink
notification is delivered that result is 0, and gtp_encap_recv() treats
0 as "the skb has been consumed":
switch (ret) {
case 1:
netdev_dbg(gtp->dev, "pass up to the process\n");
break;
case 0:
break;
case -1:
netdev_dbg(gtp->dev, "GTP packet has been dropped\n");
kfree_skb(skb);
ret = 0;
break;
}
The echo response handlers only read from the skb and never free it or
pass it on, so every echo response that is reported to a listener on the
gtp multicast group leaks the skb. Echo responses are handled for any
peer when the UDP sockets were created by the kernel, so a remote host
can leak memory on the receiver by sending GTP echo responses while a
process with CAP_NET_ADMIN is subscribed to the gtp multicast group, for
example a daemon that monitors echo responses.
The error paths do not leak but have a related problem. -ENOMEM and the error from
genlmsg_multicast_netns() (-ESRCH when nobody listens) are not -1, so
they are returned unchanged to the UDP stack, which takes a negative
value from encap_rcv() as a request to resubmit the packet to the
protocol with that number.
Return -1 when the notification cannot be built, so that
gtp_encap_recv() drops the skb, and consume the skb once the
notification has been handed to netlink, whether or not anybody is
listening.
Found by LLM-assisted source review.
Fixes: d33bd757d362 ("gtp: Implement GTP echo request")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Joas Antonio dos Santos <joasantonio108@xxxxxxxxx>
---
This issue was found with the help of an LLM-based code review tool
(Claude). I checked the code paths by hand against v7.4-rc3 and
reviewed the fix myself. It is build-tested only (W=1, arm64); I do
not have the hardware to test it at runtime.
---
drivers/net/gtp.c | 22 ++++++++++++++--------
1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/net/gtp.c b/drivers/net/gtp.c
index 1dd32e979cf5..85d1b0c46ecf 100644
--- a/drivers/net/gtp.c
+++ b/drivers/net/gtp.c
@@ -561,16 +561,19 @@ static int gtp0_handle_echo_resp(struct gtp_dev *gtp, struct sk_buff *skb)
msg = nlmsg_new(NLMSG_DEFAULT_SIZE, GFP_ATOMIC);
if (!msg)
- return -ENOMEM;
+ return -1;
ret = gtp_genl_fill_echo(msg, 0, 0, 0, GTP_CMD_ECHOREQ, echo);
if (ret < 0) {
nlmsg_free(msg);
- return ret;
+ return -1;
}
- return genlmsg_multicast_netns(>p_genl_family, dev_net(gtp->dev),
- msg, 0, GTP_GENL_MCGRP, GFP_ATOMIC);
+ genlmsg_multicast_netns(>p_genl_family, dev_net(gtp->dev),
+ msg, 0, GTP_GENL_MCGRP, GFP_ATOMIC);
+ consume_skb(skb);
+
+ return 0;
}
static int gtp_proto_to_family(__u16 proto)
@@ -748,16 +751,19 @@ static int gtp1u_handle_echo_resp(struct gtp_dev *gtp, struct sk_buff *skb)
msg = nlmsg_new(NLMSG_DEFAULT_SIZE, GFP_ATOMIC);
if (!msg)
- return -ENOMEM;
+ return -1;
ret = gtp_genl_fill_echo(msg, 0, 0, 0, GTP_CMD_ECHOREQ, echo);
if (ret < 0) {
nlmsg_free(msg);
- return ret;
+ return -1;
}
- return genlmsg_multicast_netns(>p_genl_family, dev_net(gtp->dev),
- msg, 0, GTP_GENL_MCGRP, GFP_ATOMIC);
+ genlmsg_multicast_netns(>p_genl_family, dev_net(gtp->dev),
+ msg, 0, GTP_GENL_MCGRP, GFP_ATOMIC);
+ consume_skb(skb);
+
+ return 0;
}
static int gtp_parse_exthdrs(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int *hdrlen)
---
base-commit: b3dfbde62cf1981c4638939c159dfd087b7a72e9
change-id: 20261110-gtp-echo-rsp-leak-7a3fac62bd3c
Best regards,
--
Joas Antonio dos Santos <joasantonio108@xxxxxxxxx>