Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-VQJC-M5XH-JHX3

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-04-20 12:32 – Updated: 2026-04-20 12:32

Details

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

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head

SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2 value (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc bucket sizes. This ensures that skb_kfree_head() can reliably use skb_end_offset to distinguish skb heads allocated from skb_small_head_cache vs. generic kmalloc caches.

However, when KFENCE is enabled, kfence_ksize() returns the exact requested allocation size instead of the slab bucket size. If a caller (e.g. bpf_test_init) allocates skb head data via kzalloc() and the requested size happens to equal SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE, then slab_build_skb() -> ksize() returns that exact value. After subtracting skb_shared_info overhead, skb_end_offset ends up matching SKB_SMALL_HEAD_HEADROOM, causing skb_kfree_head() to incorrectly free the object to skb_small_head_cache instead of back to the original kmalloc cache, resulting in a slab cross-cache free:

kmem_cache_free(skbuff_small_head): Wrong slab cache. Expected skbuff_small_head but got kmalloc-1k

Fix this by always calling kfree(head) in skb_kfree_head(). This keeps the free path generic and avoids allocator-specific misclassification for KFENCE objects.

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-31429"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-04-20T10:16:16Z",
    "severity": null
  },
  "details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head\n\nSKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2\nvalue (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc\nbucket sizes. This ensures that skb_kfree_head() can reliably use\nskb_end_offset to distinguish skb heads allocated from\nskb_small_head_cache vs. generic kmalloc caches.\n\nHowever, when KFENCE is enabled, kfence_ksize() returns the exact\nrequested allocation size instead of the slab bucket size. If a caller\n(e.g. bpf_test_init) allocates skb head data via kzalloc() and the\nrequested size happens to equal SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE, then\nslab_build_skb() -\u003e ksize() returns that exact value. After subtracting\nskb_shared_info overhead, skb_end_offset ends up matching\nSKB_SMALL_HEAD_HEADROOM, causing skb_kfree_head() to incorrectly free\nthe object to skb_small_head_cache instead of back to the original\nkmalloc cache, resulting in a slab cross-cache free:\n\n  kmem_cache_free(skbuff_small_head): Wrong slab cache. Expected\n  skbuff_small_head but got kmalloc-1k\n\nFix this by always calling kfree(head) in skb_kfree_head(). This keeps\nthe free path generic and avoids allocator-specific misclassification\nfor KFENCE objects.",
  "id": "GHSA-vqjc-m5xh-jhx3",
  "modified": "2026-04-20T12:32:00Z",
  "published": "2026-04-20T12:32:00Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31429"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0f42e3f4fe2a58394e37241d02d9ca6ab7b7d516"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d64618ea846d8d033477311f805ca487d6a6696"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/474e00b935db250cac320d10c1d3cf4e44b46721"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60313768a8edc7094435975587c00c2d7b834083"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": []
}

CVE-2026-31429 (GCVE-0-2026-31429)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-04-20 09:43 – Updated: 2026-04-20 09:43

Title

net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2 value (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc bucket sizes. This ensures that skb_kfree_head() can reliably use skb_end_offset to distinguish skb heads allocated from skb_small_head_cache vs. generic kmalloc caches. However, when KFENCE is enabled, kfence_ksize() returns the exact requested allocation size instead of the slab bucket size. If a caller (e.g. bpf_test_init) allocates skb head data via kzalloc() and the requested size happens to equal SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE, then slab_build_skb() -> ksize() returns that exact value. After subtracting skb_shared_info overhead, skb_end_offset ends up matching SKB_SMALL_HEAD_HEADROOM, causing skb_kfree_head() to incorrectly free the object to skb_small_head_cache instead of back to the original kmalloc cache, resulting in a slab cross-cache free: kmem_cache_free(skbuff_small_head): Wrong slab cache. Expected skbuff_small_head but got kmalloc-1k Fix this by always calling kfree(head) in skb_kfree_head(). This keeps the free path generic and avoids allocator-specific misclassification for KFENCE objects.

Severity ?

No CVSS data available.

Assigner

Linux

References

URL

Tags

	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60313768a8edc7094…
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d64618ea846d8d03…
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/474e00b935db250ca…
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0f42e3f4fe2a58394…

Impacted products

Vendor

Product

Version

Linux

Affected: bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927 , < 60313768a8edc7094435975587c00c2d7b834083 (git)
Affected: bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927 , < 2d64618ea846d8d033477311f805ca487d6a6696 (git)
Affected: bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927 , < 474e00b935db250cac320d10c1d3cf4e44b46721 (git)
Affected: bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927 , < 0f42e3f4fe2a58394e37241d02d9ca6ab7b7d516 (git)

Linux

Affected: 6.3
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.3 (semver)
Unaffected: 6.12.82 , ≤ 6.12.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.18.23 , ≤ 6.18.* (semver)
Unaffected: 6.19.13 , ≤ 6.19.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.0 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)

Show details on NVD website

JSON

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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/core/skbuff.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "60313768a8edc7094435975587c00c2d7b834083",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "2d64618ea846d8d033477311f805ca487d6a6696",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "474e00b935db250cac320d10c1d3cf4e44b46721",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "0f42e3f4fe2a58394e37241d02d9ca6ab7b7d516",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "bf9f1baa279f0758dc2297080360c5a616843927",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/core/skbuff.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "6.3"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "6.3",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.12.82",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.18.23",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "6.19.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "6.19.13",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.0",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.12.82",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.3",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.18.23",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.3",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "6.19.13",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.3",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.0",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "6.3",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head\n\nSKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE is intentionally set to a non-power-of-2\nvalue (e.g. 704 on x86_64) to avoid collisions with generic kmalloc\nbucket sizes. This ensures that skb_kfree_head() can reliably use\nskb_end_offset to distinguish skb heads allocated from\nskb_small_head_cache vs. generic kmalloc caches.\n\nHowever, when KFENCE is enabled, kfence_ksize() returns the exact\nrequested allocation size instead of the slab bucket size. If a caller\n(e.g. bpf_test_init) allocates skb head data via kzalloc() and the\nrequested size happens to equal SKB_SMALL_HEAD_CACHE_SIZE, then\nslab_build_skb() -\u003e ksize() returns that exact value. After subtracting\nskb_shared_info overhead, skb_end_offset ends up matching\nSKB_SMALL_HEAD_HEADROOM, causing skb_kfree_head() to incorrectly free\nthe object to skb_small_head_cache instead of back to the original\nkmalloc cache, resulting in a slab cross-cache free:\n\n  kmem_cache_free(skbuff_small_head): Wrong slab cache. Expected\n  skbuff_small_head but got kmalloc-1k\n\nFix this by always calling kfree(head) in skb_kfree_head(). This keeps\nthe free path generic and avoids allocator-specific misclassification\nfor KFENCE objects."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-04-20T09:43:03.194Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60313768a8edc7094435975587c00c2d7b834083"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d64618ea846d8d033477311f805ca487d6a6696"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/474e00b935db250cac320d10c1d3cf4e44b46721"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0f42e3f4fe2a58394e37241d02d9ca6ab7b7d516"
        }
      ],
      "title": "net: skb: fix cross-cache free of KFENCE-allocated skb head",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-31429",
    "datePublished": "2026-04-20T09:43:03.194Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-03-09T15:48:24.089Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-04-20T09:43:03.194Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

GHSA-VQJC-M5XH-JHX3

CVE-2026-31429 (GCVE-0-2026-31429)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature