Subject: Re: [PATCH net v4 5/8] net/sched: netem: batch-transfer ready packets to avoid child re-entrancy

From: Simon Horman <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:36:13 +0100

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---
net/sched: netem: batch-transfer ready packets to avoid child re-entrancy

netem_dequeue_child() previously transferred one packet from the tfifo
to the child qdisc per dequeue call. Parents like HFSC that track
class active/inactive state on qlen transitions could see an enqueue
during dequeue, causing double-insertion into the eltree
(CVE-2025-37890, CVE-2025-38001). Non-work-conserving children like
TBF could also refuse to return a just-enqueued packet, making netem
return NULL despite having backlog, which causes parents like DRR to
incorrectly deactivate the class.

Move all time-ready packets into the child before calling its dequeue.
This separates the enqueue and dequeue phases so the parent sees
consistent qlen transitions.

> diff --git a/net/sched/sch_netem.c b/net/sched/sch_netem.c
> index e264f7aefb97..b93f0e886a2b 100644
> --- a/net/sched/sch_netem.c
> +++ b/net/sched/sch_netem.c

[ ... ]

> @@ -743,31 +745,28 @@ static struct sk_buff *netem_dequeue_child(struct Qdisc *sch)
>  	u64 now = ktime_get_ns();
>  	struct sk_buff *skb;
>
> -	skb = netem_peek(q);
> -	if (skb) {
> -		u64 time_to_send = netem_skb_cb(skb)->time_to_send;
> -
> -		if (q->slot.slot_next && q->slot.slot_next < time_to_send)
> -			get_slot_next(q, now);
> -
> -		if (time_to_send <= now && q->slot.slot_next <= now) {
> -			struct sk_buff *to_free = NULL;
> -			unsigned int pkt_len;
> -			int err;
> +	while ((skb = netem_peek(q)) != NULL) {
> +		struct sk_buff *to_free = NULL;
> +		unsigned int pkt_len;
> +		int err;
>
> -			skb = netem_pull_tfifo(q, sch);
> -			netem_slot_account(q, skb, now);
> +		if (netem_skb_cb(skb)->time_to_send > now)
> +			break;
> +		if (q->slot.slot_next && q->slot.slot_next > now)
> +			break;

Does the batch transfer preserve slot gap behavior?

The old code called get_slot_next(q, now) when a slot expired by time:

    if (q->slot.slot_next && q->slot.slot_next < time_to_send)
        get_slot_next(q, now);

This advanced the slot to a new future window (slot_next = now + next_delay),
enforcing inter-slot gaps when a slot expired by time rather than by packet
or byte budget exhaustion.

The new batching loop only checks 'q->slot.slot_next > now' to break, and
relies solely on netem_slot_account() -> get_slot_next() for slot advancement
(which only triggers when packets_left or bytes_left reach zero).

When a slot expires by time but still has remaining budget, the new code
transfers packets immediately without creating a new inter-slot gap.

netem_dequeue_direct() still has the old slot gap logic:

    if (q->slot.slot_next && q->slot.slot_next < time_to_send)
        get_slot_next(q, now);

Should netem_dequeue_child() call get_slot_next() before the batching loop
to maintain consistent slot-based traffic shaping semantics between the
direct and child paths?

>
> -			pkt_len = qdisc_pkt_len(skb);
> -			err = qdisc_enqueue(skb, q->qdisc, &to_free);
> -			kfree_skb_list(to_free);
> -			if (err != NET_XMIT_SUCCESS) {
> -				if (net_xmit_drop_count(err))
> -					qdisc_qstats_drop(sch);
> -				sch->qstats.backlog -= pkt_len;
> -				sch->q.qlen--;
> -				qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(sch, 1, pkt_len);
> -			}
> +		skb = netem_pull_tfifo(q, sch);
> +		netem_slot_account(q, skb, now);
> +
> +		pkt_len = qdisc_pkt_len(skb);
> +		err = qdisc_enqueue(skb, q->qdisc, &to_free);
> +		kfree_skb_list(to_free);
> +		if (unlikely(err != NET_XMIT_SUCCESS)) {
> +			if (net_xmit_drop_count(err))
> +				qdisc_qstats_drop(sch);
> +			sch->qstats.backlog -= pkt_len;
> +			sch->q.qlen--;
> +			qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog(sch, 1, pkt_len);
>  		}
>  	}