CVE-2026-98549

tcp: prevent collapsing skbs across boundary in rtx queue

State
Published
Severity
9.1 Critical
Published
Oct 18, 2026
Updated
Oct 30, 2026
Reserved
Sep 25, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tcp: prevent collapsing skbs across boundary in rtx queue

tcp_write_collapse_fence() sets TCP_SKB_CB(skb)->eor = 1 on tcp_write_queue_tail(sk) to prevent skbs queued after a switch to device encryption from being collapsed into earlier skbs.

The fence is a no-op if all earlier data has already been transmitted when the switch happens: sk->sk_write_queue is empty. The not yet acknowledged earlier skbs wait in sk->tcp_rtx_queue with eor 0.

On a subsequent retransmit or SACK shift, tcp_retrans_try_collapse() or tcp_shift_skb_data() can then merge an skb queued after the switch into one queued before it.

Both users of the fence are affected:

- psp: devices only encrypt skbs with skb->decrypted set. The merged skb keeps decrypted = 0 from the earlier skb, so merged data sent after psp_sock_assoc_set_tx() is retransmitted in cleartext.

- tls device offload: the merged skb straddles the start marker set in tls_set_device_offload(). The software fallback (fill_sg_in() returns -EINVAL) and the mlx5, nfp and funeth drivers cannot handle such an skb and drop it. Every retransmit rebuilds the same skb, so the connection stalls.

Fix this in two places, for defense in depth:

1. Fall back to tcp_rtx_queue_tail(sk) in tcp_write_collapse_fence() when tcp_write_queue_tail(sk) is NULL.

2. Check !skb_cmp_decrypted(to, from) in tcp_skb_can_collapse(), as tcp_skb_can_collapse_rx() does on receive. skb_shift(), which both collapse paths call, already has a DEBUG_NET_WARN_ON_ONCE() for this condition.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.19.1 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:HLinux

Weaknesses

The record names no weakness.

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before bf785a303e5faad16439c563826a07cb811856c8Affected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 7061aafc680e14e22b191f178b768886475f8524Affected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 533344a00ad968181e60d0980c076a9d0de57482Affected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 9e2a2f98e8c0197108c6d97a1fa43bfd89071c30Affected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 1ae7aee395245874d797890380d9192bd858fb7eAffected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 7ba87509c54cd519e7ed362e0c85e8431f066a18Affected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before 08e835f5ec6e261c79d8c39f8618b3af29e3b0daAffected
  • e8f69799810c32dd40c6724d829eccc70baad07f to before fc6d80eb504458d6416b75a94188b268c95c6533Affected
LinuxLinux
  • 4.18Affected
  • before 4.18Not affected
  • 5.10.273 through 5.10.*Not affected
  • 5.15.224 through 5.15.*Not affected
  • 6.1.191 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.6.160 through 6.6.*Not affected
  • 6.12.112 through 6.12.*Not affected
  • 6.18.55 through 6.18.*Not affected
  • 7.2.9 through 7.2.*Not affected
  • 7.3 and laterNot affected

References

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