KernelScan.io

HIGH

virtio_net DstOps UAF

CVE-2026-31469

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI8.8HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_net: Fix UAF on dst_ops when IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE is cleared and napi_tx is false A UAF issue occurs when the virtio_net driver is configured with napi_tx=N and the device's IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE flag is cleared (e.g., during the configuration of tc route filter rules). When IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE is removed from the net_device, the network stack expects the driver to hold the reference to skb->dst until the packet is fully transmitted and freed. In virtio_net with napi_tx=N, skbs may remain in the virtio transmit ring for an extended period. If the network namespace is destroyed while these skbs are still pending, the corresponding dst_ops structure has freed. When a subsequent packet is transmitted, free_old_xmit() is triggered to clean up old skbs. It then calls dst_release() on the skb associated with the stale dst_entry. Since the dst_ops (referenced by the dst_entry) has already been freed, a UAF kernel paging request occurs. fix it by adds skb_dst_drop(skb) in start_xmit to explicitly release the dst reference before the skb is queued in virtio_net. Call Trace: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff80007e150000 CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 6236 Comm: ping Kdump: loaded Not tainted 7.0.0-rc1+ #6 PREEMPT ... percpu_counter_add_batch+0x3c/0x158 lib/percpu_counter.c:98 (P) dst_release+0xe0/0x110 net/core/dst.c:177 skb_release_head_state+0xe8/0x108 net/core/skbuff.c:1177 sk_skb_reason_drop+0x54/0x2d8 net/core/skbuff.c:1255 dev_kfree_skb_any_reason+0x64/0x78 net/core/dev.c:3469 napi_consume_skb+0x1c4/0x3a0 net/core/skbuff.c:1527 __free_old_xmit+0x164/0x230 drivers/net/virtio_net.c:611 [virtio_net] free_old_xmit drivers/net/virtio_net.c:1081 [virtio_net] start_xmit+0x7c/0x530 drivers/net/virtio_net.c:3329 [virtio_net] ... Reproduction Steps: NETDEV="enp3s0" config_qdisc_route_filter() { tc qdisc del dev $NETDEV root tc qdisc add dev $NETDEV root handle 1: prio tc filter add dev $NETDEV parent 1:0 \ protocol ip prio 100 route to 100 flowid 1:1 ip route add 192.168.1.100/32 dev $NETDEV realm 100 } test_ns() { ip netns add testns ip link set $NETDEV netns testns ip netns exec testns ifconfig $NETDEV 10.0.32.46/24 ip netns exec testns ping -c 1 10.0.32.1 ip netns del testns } config_qdisc_route_filter test_ns sleep 2 test_ns

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

Local attackers with CAP_NET_ADMIN privileges (obtainable via user namespaces on default kernels) can trigger a use-after-free vulnerability in the virtio_net driver when network namespaces are destroyed while packets remain queued. This leads to kernel memory corruption and potential privilege escalation, information disclosure, or system crashes.

Affecteddrivers/net/virtio_net.c (virtio_net driver)

Vulnerability analysis

The vulnerability occurs when virtio_net is configured with napi_tx=false and the IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE flag is cleared (e.g., by tc route filter configuration). In this configuration, skbs can remain in the virtio transmit ring for extended periods. When a network namespace is destroyed while these skbs are pending, the associated dst_ops structure is freed. Later, when free_old_xmit() processes these stale skbs, it calls dst_release() on freed dst_ops memory, causing a use-after-free. The fix adds skb_dst_drop() in start_xmit to explicitly release dst references before queueing packets, preventing the stale reference issue.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
5.105.10.253be0e63f3b97b
5.155.15.203c1ec36cb3768
6.16.1.1688a4790850e71
6.126.12.80f04733c4dc40
6.186.18.219a18629f2525
6.196.19.1163d45077b97b
6.66.6.131fedd2e1630ca
mainline7.0ba8bda9a0896