linux.git/include/net/ip_vs.h, branch v7.2-rc7

ipvs: return the csum validation for forward hook

2026-07-31T13:58:30+00:00

Sashiko notes that playing games with the skb dst and rt
flags instead of providing hooknum is not a good idea
when validating the checksums.

Also, skipping checksum validation for FORWARD packets
risk silent data corruption, even if the only user is
the FTP-CMD packets coming from the real server.

Sashiko also noticed that by using common checksum
helper in the previous commit we actually fixed old bug
where the TCP/UDP checksum for IPv6 on CHECKSUM_COMPLETE
was not validated correctly.

Fixes: e876b75b9020 ("ipvs: fix the checksum validations")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260722211420.153933-1-pablo%40netfilter.org
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260727185024.67534-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260728202520.59179-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: avoid out-of-bounds write in ip_vs_nat_icmp

2026-07-31T13:58:16+00:00

Sashiko warns that local attacker can modify the packet
while it is processed by IPVS. Some places read the
IP ihl field multiple times which can cause out-of-bounds
access. One such place is ip_vs_nat_icmp where we
can write after the validated area.

Fix it by providing ciph argument just like it is done for
IPv6 and use ciph->len as offset to the embedded transport
header.

Modify some IPv4 header checks by reading the ihl field
only once.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260722101517.36313-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: do not mangle ICMP replies for non-first fragments

2026-07-23T16:08:22+00:00

Sashiko warns that ip_vs_nat_icmp() unconditionally mangles the
payload for embedded non-first IPv4 fragments. The problem is
in the very old inverted pp->dont_defrag check which should not
continue when embedded is a non-first TCP/UDP/SCTP fragment.

Check for embedded non-first fragment is also missing from
ip_vs_out_icmp_v6(), it is needed before any connection
lookups that expect ports after the network headers.

Drop the blocking code from ip_vs_in_icmp_v6() which prevents
ICMPv6 from local clients to use non-MASQ forwarding.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260720201122.79882-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: fix places with wrong packet offsets

2026-07-23T16:05:08+00:00

The offsets we use to packet headers and payloads should be
based on skb->data. We even already respect non-zero
network offset in ip_vs_fill_iph_skb() but some places
do it wrongly and support only zero offset which is expected
for the IP layer where IPVS has hooks.

Change all places that instead of skb->data use offsets based
on the network header (skb_network_header, ip_hdr, etc) because
this doubles the network offset as noted by Sashiko.

For ip_vs_nat_icmp_v6() we can even rely on the IPv6 header
parsing done by the caller.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260710143733.29741-2-fw%40strlen.de
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: fix the checksum validations

2026-07-23T16:04:40+00:00

ip_vs_in_icmp_v6() is missing checksum validation for ICMPv6
packets from clients. In fact, as for TCP/UDP we should
validate the checksum for ICMP packets only when we
mangle the packets on MASQ or on reply for tunnel.

Also, Sashiko points out that handle_response_icmp() being
common for IPv4 and IPv6 is missing the pseudo-header
calculation while validating ICMPv6 messages from real
servers which is a problem if checksum is not validated
by the hardware.

Fix the problems by creating ip_vs_checksum_common_check()
helper and use it for TCP/UDP/ICMP both for IPv4 and IPv6.
Rely on the nf_checksum() for validating the ICMP messages
but use it also for TCP and UDP.

Use correct IP offset for IP_VS_DBG_RL_PKT for TCP/UDP/SCTP.

IPVS packets (TCP/UDP/SCTP/ICMP) do not need checksum
validation on LOCAL_OUT (local clients or local real
servers) and on FORWARD (traffic from servers on LAN).
Do it only on LOCAL_IN, in case nf_checksum() is not
called on PRE_ROUTING.

Also, ip_vs_checksum_complete() can be marked static.

Fixes: 2a3b791e6e11 ("IPVS: Add/adjust Netfilter hook functions and helpers for v6")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260708180315.77413-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: pass parsed transport offset to state handlers

2026-07-08T13:33:44+00:00

IPVS callers already parse the packet into struct ip_vs_iphdr before
updating connection state. For IPv6 this records the real
transport-header offset after extension headers in iph.len.

Pass this parsed transport offset through ip_vs_set_state() and the
protocol state_transition() callback so protocol handlers can use the
same packet context as scheduling and NAT handling. This patch only
changes the common callback plumbing and adapts the protocol callback
signatures; TCP and SCTP start using the value in follow-up patches.

Signed-off-by: Yizhou Zhao 
Acked-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal

ipvs: add conn_max sysctl to limit connections

2026-06-05T11:11:54+00:00

Currently, we are using atomic_t to track the number of
connections. On 64-bit setups with large memory there is
a risk this counter to overflow. Also, setups with many
containers may need to tune the limit for connections.

Add sysctl control to limit the number of connections to
1,073,741,824 (64-bit) and 16,777,216 (32-bit).
Depending on the admin's privilege, the value is
used to change a soft or hard limit allowing
unprivileged admins to change the soft limit in
range determined by privileged admins.

Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260523172715.94795-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260430074420.26697-7-ja%40ssi.bg
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260522105546.13732-1-ja%40ssi.bg
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: clear the svc scheduler ptr early on edit

2026-06-01T11:43:52+00:00

ip_vs_edit_service() while unbinding the old scheduler clears
the svc->scheduler ptr after the scheduler module initiates
RCU callbacks. This can cause packets to use the old
scheduler at the time when svc->sched_data is already freed
after RCU grace period.

Fix it by clearing the ptr early in ip_vs_unbind_scheduler(),
before the done_service method schedules any RCU callbacks.

Also, if the new scheduler fails to initialize when replacing
the old scheduler, try to restore the old scheduler while still
returning the error code.

Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260519015506.634185-1-rosenp%40gmail.com
Fixes: 05f00505a89a ("ipvs: fix crash if scheduler is changed")
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: avoid possible loop in ip_vs_dst_event on resizing

2026-05-16T10:19:56+00:00

Sashiko points out that unprivileged user can frequently
call ip_vs_flush() or ip_vs_del_service() to trigger
svc_table_changes updates that can lead to infinite loop
in ip_vs_dst_event(). This can also happen if the user
triggers frequent table resizing without deleting all
services. We should also consider the possible effects
if the user triggers many NETDEV_DOWN events.

One way to solve it is to hold svc_resize_sem in
ip_vs_dst_event() but this can block the dev notifier
during the whole resizing process.

Instead, use new rw_semaphore svc_replace_sem to protect just
the svc_table replacement which is a short code section.
Then hold svc_replace_sem in ip_vs_dst_event() to serialize
with replacing the svc_table. As result, loop is avoided
as there is no need to repeat the table walking from the
start. By this way changes in svc_table_changes can happen
only when all services are removed and all dev references
dropped which allows us to abort the table walking.

As IP_VS_WORK_SVC_NORESIZE is the flag used to stop the
svc_resize_work under service_mutex, we should check only
this flag often but not while under service_mutex.

To remove the mutex_trylock() for service_mutex in the
second phase where the resizer installs the new table
after rehashing, we will avoid holding the service_mutex
there. As result, the code in configuration context which
is under service_mutex should access ipvs->svc_table under
RCU because it can be replaced at anytime and released
after a RCU grace period. As for ip_vs_zero_all(), it needs
different solution as a table walker which can escape
single RCU read-side critical section: to hold the
svc_replace_sem to prevent table to be replaced.

In ip_vs_status_show() prefer to hold svc_replace_sem
to avoid many loops, just detect if the svc_table is
removed.

Prefer the newly attached table for the u_thresh/l_thresh
checks to know when to grow/shrink while adding or deleting
services because the new table size is based on the latest
parameters.

Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260505001648.360569-1-pablo%40netfilter.org
Fixes: 840aac3d900d ("ipvs: use resizable hash table for services")
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

ipvs: Guard access of HK_TYPE_KTHREAD cpumask with RCU

2026-05-04T23:52:55+00:00

The ip_vs_ctl.c file and the associated ip_vs.h file are the only places
in the kernel where HK_TYPE_KTHREAD cpumask is being retrieved and used.
Now that HK_TYPE_KTHREAD/HK_TYPE_DOMAIN cpumask can be changed at run
time. We need to use RCU to guard access to this cpumask to avoid a
potential UAF problem as the returned cpumask may be freed before it
is being used.

We can replace HK_TYPE_KTHREAD by HK_TYPE_DOMAIN as they are aliases
of each other, but keeping the HK_TYPE_KTHREAD name can highlight the
fact that it is the kthread initiated by ipvs that is being controlled.

Fixes: 03ff73510169 ("cpuset: Update HK_TYPE_DOMAIN cpumask from cpuset")
Signed-off-by: Waiman Long 
Signed-off-by: Julian Anastasov 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso