HIGH
tap TransportHeader OOB
CVE-2026-80905
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: tap: fix wrong transport_header when sending VLAN-tagged frame In tap_get_user_xdp(), when processing a VLAN-tagged frame (e.g. ETH_P_8021Q), skb_set_network_header() is called first to advance network_header past the VLAN tag to the inner protocol header. skb_probe_transport_header() is then called with skb->protocol still set to ETH_P_8021Q, while nhoff (derived from skb_network_offset()) already points past the VLAN tag to the inner protocol header. In __skb_flow_dissect(), proto is initialized to ETH_P_8021Q and nhoff points past the VLAN tag. When the dissector hits case ETH_P_8021Q, it reads a struct vlan_hdr at the current nhoff via __skb_header_pointer(), but that offset contains the inner protocol header (e.g. an IP header). The bytes are misinterpreted as a VLAN header, yielding a garbage encapsulated EtherType that matches no known protocol. The dissector returns false, so skb_probe_transport_header() never calls skb_set_transport_header(), leaving transport_header at its uninitialized sentinel value (~0U). Move skb_set_network_header() to after skb_probe_transport_header(). At the time skb_probe_transport_header() is called, network_header still points to the VLAN header (offset ETH_HLEN), so nhoff is correct and the flow dissector can parse the VLAN header, extract the inner EtherType, and advance nhoff to the inner protocol header, allowing transport_header to be set correctly.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A local process that can send frames through a TAP device — including virtual machine guests or container workloads using TAP-based networking — can trigger memory corruption by sending a VLAN-tagged frame via the XDP send path. The transport header offset is left at its uninitialized sentinel value, causing downstream transmit processing to access memory at an invalid offset. This can result in kernel crash or potentially exploitable memory corruption.
Vulnerability analysis
When a VLAN-tagged Ethernet frame is sent through a TAP device via the XDP path, the network header is advanced past the VLAN tag before the transport header is probed. This causes the flow dissector to misinterpret the inner protocol header bytes as a VLAN header, fail to identify the transport layer, and leave the transport header offset at its default uninitialized sentinel. Downstream transmit processing that uses this offset may then access memory at an invalid location, causing a kernel crash or memory corruption. The fix reorders the two operations so the transport header is probed while the network header still points at the VLAN header, letting the dissector correctly parse the VLAN tag and set the transport header before the network header is advanced. The bug is reachable locally by any process that can send frames through a TAP device — including virtual machine guests and container workloads on TAP-based networking, or any local process holding the capability to create a TAP interface (obtainable inside a user namespace).
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.20 | 4.20.1 | 4.21 | c0376820922d |
| 6.12 | — | 6.12.114 | 5ffaa5d7f56a |
| 6.18 | — | 6.18.46 | 88b79ac89ecc |
| 6.6 | — | 6.6.160 | f1d297cad5c1 |
| 7.1 | — | 7.1.10 | cbb35cbe8db2 |
| mainline | — | 7.2 | — |
04CIP Kernels
State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.
| CIP tree | State |
|---|---|
| cip/6.12 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 6.12.112-cip33) |