---
id: CVE-2026-80590
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly

  A virtio_net_hdr (tun/tap, or AF_PACKET with PACKET_VNET_HDR) can mark
  an IPv4 or IPv6 fragment as GSO; n…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly

  A virtio_net_hdr (tun/tap, or AF_PACKET with PACKET_VNET_HDR) can mark
  an IPv4 or IPv6 fragment as GSO; n…
severity: high
cvss: 8.6
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H'
published: '2026-08-28'
updated: '2026-08-29'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80590'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14a8f3e10fa9a5abd6cedcdaa0c0b7ea9a09f234'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/29dda278a5ed272f2230ff4eaa23cf403107bba0'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3edf721bb4b99d272c336631b44e3d8ff9a4f31b'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69b73b74d9eb45f5560a8fe4fa406ada580e1340'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c49f04e8d2b94dbb8d9fd99731dd3f00589c8ace'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cfdbc8c2e6f9ef5d8b8e54859da03dfe682b0bee'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da857e448322a2e871ce3ecc2900027041160d43'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dec2edb7aaf12a8878b3a03172ea8fc277b8eaad'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00827
epssPercentile: 0.55651
ingestedAt: '2026-08-29T21:42:36.773Z'
---

## Overview

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

inet: frags: strip GSO state from fragments before reassembly

A virtio_net_hdr (tun/tap, or AF_PACKET with PACKET_VNET_HDR) can mark
an IPv4 or IPv6 fragment as GSO; nothing relates gso_type to frag_off.
inet_frag_reasm_prepare()/inet_frag_reasm_finish() keep the first
fragment's skb as the head of the reassembled datagram, including its
shinfo->gso_size/gso_type/gso_segs, and chain the remaining fragments
on frag_list with whatever linear/paged layout they arrived with.

After ip_defrag() (ip_local_deliver(), nf_defrag_ipv4, ...) the
reassembled skb therefore still claims to be GSO (SKB_GSO_DODGY), and
the next software segmentation point - udp_rcv_segment() on local
delivery, validate_xmit_skb(), or the ip_finish_output_gso() slow
path - hands it to skb_segment(). skb_segment()'s frag_list walk
assumes GRO-shaped input and hits one of its BUG_ON()s. Two writes to
a tap by an unprivileged user in its own userns are enough:

  kernel BUG at net/core/skbuff.c:4899!
  Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
  CPU: 0 UID: 1000 PID: 82 Comm: poc Not tainted 7.2.0-pentest+ #2
  RIP: 0010:skb_segment+0x20ca/0x48b0
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   __udp_gso_segment+0x29a/0x27d0
   udp4_ufo_fragment+0x458/0x6c0
   inet_gso_segment+0x429/0x1340
   skb_mac_gso_segment+0x233/0x4f0
   __skb_gso_segment+0x308/0x660
   udp_queue_rcv_skb+0x440/0xad0
   udp_unicast_rcv_skb+0xc7/0x2c0
   udp_rcv+0x16ce/0x2260
   ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x197/0x2d0
   ip_local_deliver+0x430/0x690
   ip_rcv+0x16f/0x1f0
   __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x15e/0x1c0
   __netif_receive_skb+0x1e/0x110
   netif_receive_skb+0xf6/0x5c0
   tun_rx_batched.isra.0+0x3ab/0x790
   tun_get_user+0x17c3/0x3550
   tun_chr_write_iter+0xba/0x1b0
   vfs_write+0x646/0x1130
   </TASK>
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

This runs with BH disabled, so it is a panic rather than an oops. The
same is reachable with CAP_NET_RAW in a netns where a defrag point
precedes a GSO point, and from a guest whose VMM forwards
virtio_net_hdr to a tap. The SKB_GSO_DODGY frag_list checks added by
commit 3dcbdb134f32 ("net: gso: Fix skb_segment splat when splitting
gso_size mangled skb having linear-headed frag_list") and by
commit 9e4b7a99a03a ("net: gso: fix panic on frag_list with mixed head
alloc types") do not cover it: page-backed heads skip them, and kmalloc
heads skip them when gso_size == skb_headlen(head), which the sender
controls.

An skb entering a frag queue is an IP fragment by definition and
cannot legitimately carry GSO state: GRO does not merge fragments and
the stack segments before it fragments, so only untrusted sources are
affected. This has been reachable since
commit f43798c27684 ("tun: Allow GSO using virtio_net_hdr"), the first
path that let userspace attach GSO metadata to an IP fragment. Reset
the GSO fields of every fragment as it is queued, in
inet_frag_queue_insert(), which IPv4, IPv6, nf_conntrack_reasm and
6lowpan reassembly share; then neither the head nor the frag_list
members of the reassembled skb carry them (the members matter too:
the ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() fast paths send them out as they
are). The head may remain CHECKSUM_PARTIAL; that is already accepted
on receive and resolved by skb_checksum_help() in
ip_do_fragment()/ip6_fragment() on forward.

Tested on top of net.git (dc4b95b8fee9), x86_64: the tap reproducer
above, two further IPv4 frag_list geometries that reach
BUG_ON(i >= nfrags) and BUG_ON(!list_skb->head_frag), and an IPv6
fragment-header variant (udp6_ufo_fragment()) each panic the unpatched
kernel; with this patch all four datagrams are delivered intact and
nothing is logged.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.
