Subject: Re: [PATCH net v3] ipvs: fix MTU check for GSO packets in tunnel mode

From: Pablo Neira Ayuso <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 03:11:20 +0200

On Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 10:46:16PM +0800, Yingnan Zhang wrote:
> Currently, IPVS skips MTU checks for GSO packets by excluding them with
> the !skb_is_gso(skb) condition. This creates problems when IPVS tunnel
> mode encapsulates GSO packets with IPIP headers.
> 
> The issue manifests in two ways:
> 
> 1. MTU violation after encapsulation:
>    When a GSO packet passes through IPVS tunnel mode, the original MTU
>    check is bypassed. After adding the IPIP tunnel header, the packet
>    size may exceed the outgoing interface MTU, leading to unexpected
>    fragmentation at the IP layer.
> 
> 2. Fragmentation with problematic IP IDs:
>    When net.ipv4.vs.pmtu_disc=1 and a GSO packet with multiple segments
>    is fragmented after encapsulation, each segment gets a sequentially
>    incremented IP ID (0, 1, 2, ...). This happens because:
> 
>    a) The GSO packet bypasses MTU check and gets encapsulated
>    b) At __ip_finish_output, the oversized GSO packet is split into
>       separate SKBs (one per segment), with IP IDs incrementing
>    c) Each SKB is then fragmented again based on the actual MTU
> 
>    This sequential IP ID allocation differs from the expected behavior
>    and can cause issues with fragment reassembly and packet tracking.
> 
> Fix this by properly validating GSO packets using
> skb_gso_validate_network_len(). This function correctly validates
> whether the GSO segments will fit within the MTU after segmentation. If
> validation fails, send an ICMP Fragmentation Needed message to enable
> proper PMTU discovery.
> 
> Fixes: 4cdd34084d53 ("netfilter: nf_conntrack_ipv6: improve fragmentation handling")
> Signed-off-by: Yingnan Zhang <[email-masked]>
> ---
> v3:
> - Fixed compilation error (removed extra closing brace in IPv6 function)
> - Fixed indentation to match kernel style
> 
> v2: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/[email-masked]/
> v1: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/[email-masked]/
> ---
>  net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_xmit.c | 9 +++++----
>  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_xmit.c b/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_xmit.c
> index 3601eb86d..a4ca7cad0 100644
> --- a/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_xmit.c
> +++ b/net/netfilter/ipvs/ip_vs_xmit.c
> @@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ __mtu_check_toobig_v6(const struct sk_buff *skb, u32 mtu)
>  		 */
>  		if (IP6CB(skb)->frag_max_size > mtu)
>  			return true; /* largest fragment violate MTU */
> -	}
> -	else if (skb->len > mtu && !skb_is_gso(skb)) {
> +	} else if (skb->len > mtu &&
> +		   !(skb_is_gso(skb) && skb_gso_validate_network_len(skb, mtu))) {

Maybe helper function helps make this more readable?

/* Based on ip_exceeds_mtu(). */
static bool ip_vs_exceeds_mtu(const struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int mtu)
{
        if (skb->len <= mtu)
                return false;

        if (skb_is_gso(skb) && skb_gso_validate_network_len(skb, mtu))
                return false;

        return true;
}

>  		return true; /* Packet size violate MTU size */
>  	}
>  	return false;
> @@ -232,8 +232,9 @@ static inline bool ensure_mtu_is_adequate(struct netns_ipvs *ipvs, int skb_af,
>  			return true;
>  
>  		if (unlikely(ip_hdr(skb)->frag_off & htons(IP_DF) &&
> -			     skb->len > mtu && !skb_is_gso(skb) &&
> -			     !ip_vs_iph_icmp(ipvsh))) {
> +			     skb->len > mtu && !ip_vs_iph_icmp(ipvsh) &&
> +			     !(skb_is_gso(skb) &&
> +			       skb_gso_validate_network_len(skb, mtu)))) {
>  			icmp_send(skb, ICMP_DEST_UNREACH, ICMP_FRAG_NEEDED,
>  				  htonl(mtu));
>  			IP_VS_DBG(1, "frag needed for %pI4\n",
> -- 
> 2.51.0
>