linux.git/include/net/netfilter, branch master

netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: store netns and zone in expectation

2026-03-26T12:24:40+00:00

__nf_ct_expect_find() and nf_ct_expect_find_get() are called under
rcu_read_lock() but they dereference the master conntrack via
exp->master.

Since the expectation does not hold a reference on the master conntrack,
this could be dying conntrack or different recycled conntrack than the
real master due to SLAB_TYPESAFE_RCU.

Store the netns, the master_tuple and the zone in struct
nf_conntrack_expect as a safety measure.

This patch is required by the follow up fix not to dump expectations
that do not belong to this netns.

Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

netfilter: ctnetlink: ensure safe access to master conntrack

2026-03-26T12:18:32+00:00

Holding reference on the expectation is not sufficient, the master
conntrack object can just go away, making exp->master invalid.

To access exp->master safely:

- Grab the nf_conntrack_expect_lock, this gets serialized with
  clean_from_lists() which also holds this lock when the master
  conntrack goes away.

- Hold reference on master conntrack via nf_conntrack_find_get().
  Not so easy since the master tuple to look up for the master conntrack
  is not available in the existing problematic paths.

This patch goes for extending the nf_conntrack_expect_lock section
to address this issue for simplicity, in the cases that are described
below this is just slightly extending the lock section.

The add expectation command already holds a reference to the master
conntrack from ctnetlink_create_expect().

However, the delete expectation command needs to grab the spinlock
before looking up for the expectation. Expand the existing spinlock
section to address this to cover the expectation lookup. Note that,
the nf_ct_expect_iterate_net() calls already grabs the spinlock while
iterating over the expectation table, which is correct.

The get expectation command needs to grab the spinlock to ensure master
conntrack does not go away. This also expands the existing spinlock
section to cover the expectation lookup too. I needed to move the
netlink skb allocation out of the spinlock to keep it GFP_KERNEL.

For the expectation events, the IPEXP_DESTROY event is already delivered
under the spinlock, just move the delivery of IPEXP_NEW under the
spinlock too because the master conntrack event cache is reached through
exp->master.

While at it, add lockdep notations to help identify what codepaths need
to grab the spinlock.

Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: honor expectation helper field

2026-03-26T12:18:31+00:00

The expectation helper field is mostly unused. As a result, the
netfilter codebase relies on accessing the helper through exp->master.

Always set on the expectation helper field so it can be used to reach
the helper.

nf_ct_expect_init() is called from packet path where the skb owns
the ct object, therefore accessing exp->master for the newly created
expectation is safe. This saves a lot of updates in all callsites
to pass the ct object as parameter to nf_ct_expect_init().

This is a preparation patches for follow up fixes.

Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso

nf_tables: nft_dynset: fix possible stateful expression memleak in error path

2026-03-13T14:31:15+00:00

If cloning the second stateful expression in the element via GFP_ATOMIC
fails, then the first stateful expression remains in place without being
released.

   unreferenced object (percpu) 0x607b97e9cab8 (size 16):
     comm "softirq", pid 0, jiffies 4294931867
     hex dump (first 16 bytes on cpu 3):
       00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
     backtrace (crc 0):
       pcpu_alloc_noprof+0x453/0xd80
       nft_counter_clone+0x9c/0x190 [nf_tables]
       nft_expr_clone+0x8f/0x1b0 [nf_tables]
       nft_dynset_new+0x2cb/0x5f0 [nf_tables]
       nft_rhash_update+0x236/0x11c0 [nf_tables]
       nft_dynset_eval+0x11f/0x670 [nf_tables]
       nft_do_chain+0x253/0x1700 [nf_tables]
       nft_do_chain_ipv4+0x18d/0x270 [nf_tables]
       nf_hook_slow+0xaa/0x1e0
       ip_local_deliver+0x209/0x330

Fixes: 563125a73ac3 ("netfilter: nftables: generalize set extension to support for several expressions")
Reported-by: Gurpreet Shergill 
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal

netfilter: revert nft_set_rbtree: validate open interval overlap

2026-03-13T14:31:14+00:00

This reverts commit 648946966a08 ("netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: validate
open interval overlap").

There have been reports of nft failing to laod valid rulesets after this
patch was merged into -stable.

I can reproduce several such problem with recent nft versions, including
nft 1.1.6 which is widely shipped by distributions.

We currently have little choice here.
This commit can be resurrected at some point once the nftables fix that
triggers the false overlap positive has appeared in common distros
(see e83e32c8d1cd ("mnl: restore create element command with large batches" in
 nftables.git).

Fixes: 648946966a08 ("netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: validate open interval overlap")
Acked-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal

netfilter: nft_set_pipapo: split gc into unlink and reclaim phase

2026-03-05T12:22:37+00:00

Yiming Qian reports Use-after-free in the pipapo set type:
  Under a large number of expired elements, commit-time GC can run for a very
  long time in a non-preemptible context, triggering soft lockup warnings and
  RCU stall reports (local denial of service).

We must split GC in an unlink and a reclaim phase.

We cannot queue elements for freeing until pointers have been swapped.
Expired elements are still exposed to both the packet path and userspace
dumpers via the live copy of the data structure.

call_rcu() does not protect us: dump operations or element lookups starting
after call_rcu has fired can still observe the free'd element, unless the
commit phase has made enough progress to swap the clone and live pointers
before any new reader has picked up the old version.

This a similar approach as done recently for the rbtree backend in commit
35f83a75529a ("netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: don't gc elements on insert").

Fixes: 3c4287f62044 ("nf_tables: Add set type for arbitrary concatenation of ranges")
Reported-by: Yiming Qian 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal

netfilter: nf_tables: clone set on flush only

2026-03-05T12:22:37+00:00

Syzbot with fault injection triggered a failing memory allocation with
GFP_KERNEL which results in a WARN splat:

iter.err
WARNING: net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845 at nft_map_deactivate+0x34e/0x3c0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845, CPU#0: syz.0.17/5992
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5992 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2026
RIP: 0010:nft_map_deactivate+0x34e/0x3c0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845
Code: 8b 05 86 5a 4e 09 48 3b 84 24 a0 00 00 00 75 62 48 8d 65 d8 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc cc e8 63 6d fa f7 90 <0f> 0b 90 43
+80 7c 35 00 00 0f 85 23 fe ff ff e9 26 fe ff ff 89 d9
RSP: 0018:ffffc900045af780 EFLAGS: 00010293
RAX: ffffffff89ca45bd RBX: 00000000fffffff4 RCX: ffff888028111e40
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000fffffff4 RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: ffffc900045af870 R08: 0000000000400dc0 R09: 00000000ffffffff
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff1d141db R12: ffffc900045af7e0
R13: 1ffff920008b5f24 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffffc900045af920
FS:  000055557a6a5500(0000) GS:ffff888125496000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007fb5ea271fc0 CR3: 000000003269e000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
Call Trace:
 
 __nft_release_table+0xceb/0x11f0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:12115
 nft_rcv_nl_event+0xc25/0xdb0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:12187
 notifier_call_chain+0x19d/0x3a0 kernel/notifier.c:85
 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x6a/0x90 kernel/notifier.c:380
 netlink_release+0x123b/0x1ad0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:761
 __sock_release net/socket.c:662 [inline]
 sock_close+0xc3/0x240 net/socket.c:1455

Restrict set clone to the flush set command in the preparation phase.
Add NFT_ITER_UPDATE_CLONE and use it for this purpose, update the rbtree
and pipapo backends to only clone the set when this iteration type is
used.

As for the existing NFT_ITER_UPDATE type, update the pipapo backend to
use the existing set clone if available, otherwise use the existing set
representation. After this update, there is no need to clone a set that
is being deleted, this includes bound anonymous set.

An alternative approach to NFT_ITER_UPDATE_CLONE is to add a .clone
interface and call it from the flush set path.

Reported-by: syzbot+4924a0edc148e8b4b342@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Fixes: 3f1d886cc7c3 ("netfilter: nft_set_pipapo: move cloning of match info to insert/removal path")
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal

Merge tag 'nf-next-26-02-06' of https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netfilter/nf-next

2026-02-11T04:25:38+00:00

Florian Westphal says:

====================
netfilter: updates for net-next

The following patchset contains Netfilter updates for *net-next*:

1) Fix net-next-only use-after-free bug in nf_tables rbtree set:
   Expired elements cannot be released right away after unlink anymore
   because there is no guarantee that the binary-search blob is going to
   be updated.  Spotted by syzkaller.

2) Fix esoteric bug in nf_queue with udp fraglist gro, broken since
   6.11. Patch 3 adds extends the nfqueue selftest for this.

4) Use dedicated slab for flowtable entries, currently the -512 cache
   is used, which is wasteful.  From Qingfang Deng.

5) Recent net-next update extended existing test for ip6ip6 tunnels, add
   the required /config entry.  Test still passed by accident because the
   previous tests network setup gets re-used, so also update the test so
   it will fail in case the ip6ip6 tunnel interface cannot be added.

6) Fix 'nft get element mytable myset { 1.2.3.4 }' on big endian
   platforms, this was broken since code was added in v5.1.

7) Fix nf_tables counter reset support on 32bit platforms, where counter
   reset may cause huge values to appear due to wraparound.
   Broken since reset feature was added in v6.11.  From Anders Grahn.

8-11) update nf_tables rbtree set type to detect partial
   operlaps.  This will eventually speed up nftables userspace: at this
   time userspace does a netlink dump of the set content which slows down
   incremental updates on interval sets.  From Pablo Neira Ayuso.

* tag 'nf-next-26-02-06' of https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netfilter/nf-next:
  netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: validate open interval overlap
  netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: validate element belonging to interval
  netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: check for partial overlaps in anonymous sets
  netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: fix bogus EEXIST with NLM_F_CREATE with null interval
  netfilter: nft_counter: fix reset of counters on 32bit archs
  netfilter: nft_set_hash: fix get operation on big endian
  selftests: netfilter: add IPV6_TUNNEL to config
  netfilter: flowtable: dedicated slab for flow entry
  selftests: netfilter: nft_queue.sh: add udp fraglist gro test case
  netfilter: nfnetlink_queue: do shared-unconfirmed check before segmentation
  netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: don't gc elements on insert
====================

Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260206153048.17570-1-fw@strlen.de
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski

net/ipv6: Introduce payload_len helpers

2026-02-07T04:50:03+00:00

The next commits will transition away from using the hop-by-hop
extension header to encode packet length for BIG TCP. Add wrappers
around ip6->payload_len that return the actual value if it's non-zero,
and calculate it from skb->len if payload_len is set to zero (and a
symmetrical setter).

The new helpers are used wherever the surrounding code supports the
hop-by-hop jumbo header for BIG TCP IPv6, or the corresponding IPv4 code
uses skb_ip_totlen (e.g., in include/net/netfilter/nf_tables_ipv6.h).

No behavioral change in this commit.

Signed-off-by: Alice Mikityanska 
Acked-by: Paolo Abeni 
Reviewed-by: Eric Dumazet 
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260205133925.526371-2-alice.kernel@fastmail.im
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski

netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: validate open interval overlap

2026-02-06T12:36:07+00:00

Open intervals do not have an end element, in particular an open
interval at the end of the set is hard to validate because of it is
lacking the end element, and interval validation relies on such end
element to perform the checks.

This patch adds a new flag field to struct nft_set_elem, this is not an
issue because this is a temporary object that is allocated in the stack
from the insert/deactivate path. This flag field is used to specify that
this is the last element in this add/delete command.

The last flag is used, in combination with the start element cookie, to
check if there is a partial overlap, eg.

   Already exists:   255.255.255.0-255.255.255.254
   Add interval:     255.255.255.0-255.255.255.255
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             start element overlap

Basically, the idea is to check for an existing end element in the set
if there is an overlap with an existing start element.

However, the last open interval can come in any position in the add
command, the corner case can get a bit more complicated:

   Already exists:   255.255.255.0-255.255.255.254
   Add intervals:    255.255.255.0-255.255.255.255,255.255.255.0-255.255.255.254
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             start element overlap

To catch this overlap, annotate that the new start element is a possible
overlap, then report the overlap if the next element is another start
element that confirms that previous element in an open interval at the
end of the set.

For deletions, do not update the start cookie when deleting an open
interval, otherwise this can trigger spurious EEXIST when adding new
elements.

Unfortunately, there is no NFT_SET_ELEM_INTERVAL_OPEN flag which would
make easier to detect open interval overlaps.

Fixes: 7c84d41416d8 ("netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: Detect partial overlaps on insertion")
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso 
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal