HIGH Introduced in 3.5
batman-adv Claim Race
CVE-2026-93203
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
KernelScan AI5.8MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: bla: avoid CRC corruption due to parallel claim add batadv_bla_add_claim() is used to add claims and modify the backbone of claims for CLAIM frames from remote backbones and local packets. When it handles a claim, it needs to either * add the new claim's CRC to the backbone CRC * remove the already existing claim's CRC from the old backbone and add it to the new backbone But when the "new" claim code was running in parallel to the "change backbone" code, it can happen that the CRC was invalid because the backbone_gw of the claim was changed twice in the "new" claim code path: * CPU0 creates the claim for gateway A and publishes it in the claim hash. The crc16 of the address has not yet been added to A's crc at this point. * CPU1 processes a claim frame of gateway B for the same client, finds the just published claim, and performs the ownership change: it switches the pointer to B, removes the crc16 from A's crc - which never contained it - and adds it to B's crc. * CPU0 continues behind the creation branch, unconditionally switches the pointer back to A without compensating B's crc (its remove_crc is false for the creation path), and finally adds the crc16 to A's crc The CRC is then wrong for both: * claim belongs to A: but CRC is not part of backbone A's CRC * claim doesn't belong to B: CRC is still part of backbone B's CRC This wrong CRC is never recomputated from the stored claims. For local backbone claims, this can also not recovered using syncs. To avoid this, split the functionality in clear separate parts: * new claim which always adds claim CRC to the backbone CRC (but never changes the already set backbone_gw of the claim back) * update of existing claim which automatically changes the backbone_gw entry and only updates both backbone CRCs when there was an actual change
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A race condition in batman-adv's bridge loop avoidance code allows an attacker on the mesh network to corrupt CRC values that track claim ownership between backbone gateways. The corrupted state can cause the bridge loop avoidance mechanism to malfunction, potentially allowing network loops and broadcast storms that severely degrade or disrupt network availability. Any device running batman-adv with BLA enabled and reachable from the mesh is affected.
Vulnerability analysis
A race condition exists in batman-adv's bridge loop avoidance code when two processors concurrently process CLAIM frames for the same client associated with different backbone gateways. The original code publishes a new claim to the hash table before updating the backbone's CRC, creating a window where another processor can change the claim's ownership and adjust CRCs, after which the first processor unconditionally switches the ownership back without compensating the CRCs. This leaves both backbones with incorrect CRC values that are never recomputed, causing the loop avoidance mechanism to make wrong decisions about which backbone owns which clients. The fix separates the claim creation and claim update code paths: new claims immediately add their CRC to the backbone and return, while existing claims only update backbone CRCs when the backbone gateway actually changed, all under proper locking. The vulnerability is reachable by any node on the same batman-adv mesh network that can send CLAIM frames; no special privileges are required.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 3.5 | 5.10.270 | 3d4a9ae2c69c |
| 5.15 | 3.5 | 5.15.221 | ad982d925f00 |
| 6.1 | 3.5 | 6.1.188 | d5b0e7574da5 |
| 6.12 | 3.5 | 6.12.110 | 1d390db003cb |
| 6.18 | 3.5 | 6.18.52 | 8bcfa58c4277 |
| 6.6 | 3.5 | 6.6.157 | a3e07db74f22 |
| 7.2 | 3.5 | 7.2.6 | e54602d9e38d |
| mainline | 3.5 | 7.3 | 08645ab95768 |
| cip/5.10 | 3.5 | 5.10.271-cip78 | 3d4a9ae2c69c |
| cip/6.1 | 3.5 | 6.1.189-cip61 | d5b0e7574da5 |
| cip/6.1-rt | 3.5 | 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 | d5b0e7574da5 |
| cip/6.12 | 3.5 | 6.12.111-cip32 | 1d390db003cb |
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 | Fixed in 6.12.111-cip32 |
| cip/6.1 | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61 |
| cip/6.1-rt | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 |
| cip/5.10 | Fixed in 5.10.271-cip78 |
| cip/5.10-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34) |
| cip/4.19 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136) |
| cip/4.19-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50) |
| cip/4.4 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115) |
| cip/4.4-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.4.302-cip115-rt63) |