Subject: [PATCH net v3] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers

From: Hyunwoo Kim <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 20:57:48 +0900

Three frag-transfer helpers (__pskb_copy_fclone(), skb_try_coalesce(),
and skb_shift()) fail to propagate the SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG bit in
skb_shinfo()->flags when moving frags from source to destination.
__pskb_copy_fclone() defers the rest of the shinfo metadata to
skb_copy_header() after copying frag descriptors, but that helper
only carries over gso_{size,segs,type} and never touches
skb_shinfo()->flags; skb_try_coalesce() and skb_shift() move frag
descriptors directly and leave flags untouched.  As a result, the
destination skb keeps a reference to the same externally-owned or
page-cache-backed pages while reporting skb_has_shared_frag() as
false.

The mismatch is harmful in any in-place writer that uses
skb_has_shared_frag() to decide whether shared pages must be detoured
through skb_cow_data().  ESP input is one such writer (esp4.c,
esp6.c), and a single nft 'dup to <local>' rule -- or any other
nf_dup_ipv4() / xt_TEE caller -- is enough to land a pskb_copy()'d
skb in esp_input() with the marker stripped, letting an unprivileged
user write into the page cache of a root-owned read-only file via
authencesn-ESN stray writes.

Set SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG on the destination whenever frag descriptors
were actually moved from the source.  skb_copy() and skb_copy_expand()
share skb_copy_header() too but linearize all paged data into freshly
allocated head storage and emerge with nr_frags == 0, so
skb_has_shared_frag() returns false on its own; they need no change.

The same omission exists in skb_gro_receive() and skb_gro_receive_list().
The former moves the incoming skb's frag descriptors into the
accumulator's last sub-skb via two paths (a direct frag-move loop and
the head_frag + memcpy path); the latter chains the incoming skb whole
onto p's frag_list.  Downstream skb_segment() reads only
skb_shinfo(p)->flags, and skb_segment_list() reuses each sub-skb's
shinfo as the nskb -- both p and lp must carry the marker.

Fixes: cef401de7be8 ("net: fix possible wrong checksum generation")
Fixes: f4c50a4034e6 ("xfrm: esp: avoid in-place decrypt on shared skb frags")
Reported-by: William Bowling <[email-masked]>
Reported-by: Hyunwoo Kim <[email-masked]>
Cc: [email-masked]
Signed-off-by: Hyunwoo Kim <[email-masked]>
---
Changes in v3:
- Include the skb_gro_receive() audit patch suggested by Sultan
- v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/agToIEDI4TaTNLRb@v4bel/
Changes in v2:
- Also propagate SHARED_FRAG in skb_try_coalesce() and skb_shift()
- v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/agRfuVOeMI5pbHhY@v4bel/
---
 net/core/gro.c    | 4 ++++
 net/core/skbuff.c | 5 +++++
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/core/gro.c b/net/core/gro.c
index 31d21de5b15a..9f8960789b2c 100644
--- a/net/core/gro.c
+++ b/net/core/gro.c
@@ -213,10 +213,12 @@ int skb_gro_receive(struct sk_buff *p, struct sk_buff *skb)
 	p->data_len += len;
 	p->truesize += delta_truesize;
 	p->len += len;
+	skb_shinfo(p)->flags |= skbinfo->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
 	if (lp != p) {
 		lp->data_len += len;
 		lp->truesize += delta_truesize;
 		lp->len += len;
+		skb_shinfo(lp)->flags |= skbinfo->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
 	}
 	NAPI_GRO_CB(skb)->same_flow = 1;
 	return 0;
@@ -244,6 +246,8 @@ int skb_gro_receive_list(struct sk_buff *p, struct sk_buff *skb)
 	p->truesize += skb->truesize;
 	p->len += skb->len;
 
+	skb_shinfo(p)->flags |= skb_shinfo(skb)->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
+
 	NAPI_GRO_CB(skb)->same_flow = 1;
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index 7dad68e3b518..7cd388504297 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -2248,6 +2248,7 @@ struct sk_buff *__pskb_copy_fclone(struct sk_buff *skb, int headroom,
 			skb_frag_ref(skb, i);
 		}
 		skb_shinfo(n)->nr_frags = i;
+		skb_shinfo(n)->flags |= skb_shinfo(skb)->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
 	}
 
 	if (skb_has_frag_list(skb)) {
@@ -4349,6 +4350,8 @@ int skb_shift(struct sk_buff *tgt, struct sk_buff *skb, int shiftlen)
 	tgt->ip_summed = CHECKSUM_PARTIAL;
 	skb->ip_summed = CHECKSUM_PARTIAL;
 
+	skb_shinfo(tgt)->flags |= skb_shinfo(skb)->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
+
 	skb_len_add(skb, -shiftlen);
 	skb_len_add(tgt, shiftlen);
 
@@ -6200,6 +6203,8 @@ bool skb_try_coalesce(struct sk_buff *to, struct sk_buff *from,
 	       from_shinfo->frags,
 	       from_shinfo->nr_frags * sizeof(skb_frag_t));
 	to_shinfo->nr_frags += from_shinfo->nr_frags;
+	if (from_shinfo->nr_frags)
+		to_shinfo->flags |= from_shinfo->flags & SKBFL_SHARED_FRAG;
 
 	if (!skb_cloned(from))
 		from_shinfo->nr_frags = 0;
-- 
2.43.0