In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fou: reject omitted FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO on FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT

Commit 7a9bc9e3f423 ("fou: Don't allow 0 for FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO.") added
NLA_POLICY_MIN(NLA_U8, 1) to fou_nl_policy[FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO], which
rejects an explicitly supplied FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO == 0 attribute with
-ERANGE.

However, FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO is an optional netlink attribute. When a user
sends FOU_CMD_ADD with FOU_ATTR_TYPE set to FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT and omits
FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO entirely, nla_policy validation succeeds and
parse_nl_config() leaves cfg->protocol as 0 (from memset(cfg, 0,
sizeof(*cfg))). fou_create() then creates a FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT socket with
fou->protocol == 0.

In fou_udp_recv(), returning -fou->protocol to udp_queue_rcv_one_skb()
triggers IP protocol resubmission when fou->protocol > 0, whereas
returning 0 tells the UDP tunnel layer that the skb was consumed without
freeing it. When fou->protocol == 0, every packet received on the socket
returns 0 from fou_udp_recv() and leaks the sk_buff.

Reject FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT when !cfg->protocol in fou_create() so that
creating a direct encapsulation port without FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO fails with
-EINVAL while leaving FOU_CMD_DEL and FOU_CMD_GET (which share
parse_nl_config()) unaffected.

Tested in QEMU against Linux 7.3.0-rc3 by sending a FOU_CMD_ADD Generic
Netlink request with FOU_ATTR_PORT = 5555 and FOU_ATTR_TYPE =
FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT while omitting FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO. On the unfixed kernel,
FOU_CMD_ADD succeeds (err = 0), FOU_CMD_GET reports fou->type = 1 and
fou->protocol = 0, and sending 4000 UDP packets to 127.0.0.1:5555 leaks
all 4000 sk_buffs (SUnreclaim in /proc/meminfo grows from 41456 kB to
59008 kB, +17552 kB); with this patch applied, FOU_CMD_ADD is rejected
with -EINVAL (-22).

Metrics

No CVSS v4.0

No CVSS v3.1

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendors Products
Linux Subscribe
Linux Kernel Subscribe

No data.

No data.

OpenCVE Enrichment is a feature of OpenCVE that uses AI to automatically link vendors and products to CVEs. Learn more on GitHub.

No data.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3bcc1624cc1cdcc05b566475d6e848093ab2a8f6 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/46b1ffb7e169c7e401dd890b29e55dbc261f8f01 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/520cf06b8ea0ba5bcc1b8b982ef07f02b5e56221 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f4ba56f5d310dd018972916167985010a5d66a1 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b43f40798bb2758489fbbcae7e841ad4443c213 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1229b210ef5a39c58be665e6798203751411842 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d22609f3d13fc5baacd92c222731b03c593401db cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd20220f86947d66d4dba2d76f13a28dbd86ef30 cve-icon cve-icon
History

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 17:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-399

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fou: reject omitted FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO on FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT Commit 7a9bc9e3f423 ("fou: Don't allow 0 for FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO.") added NLA_POLICY_MIN(NLA_U8, 1) to fou_nl_policy[FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO], which rejects an explicitly supplied FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO == 0 attribute with -ERANGE. However, FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO is an optional netlink attribute. When a user sends FOU_CMD_ADD with FOU_ATTR_TYPE set to FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT and omits FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO entirely, nla_policy validation succeeds and parse_nl_config() leaves cfg->protocol as 0 (from memset(cfg, 0, sizeof(*cfg))). fou_create() then creates a FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT socket with fou->protocol == 0. In fou_udp_recv(), returning -fou->protocol to udp_queue_rcv_one_skb() triggers IP protocol resubmission when fou->protocol > 0, whereas returning 0 tells the UDP tunnel layer that the skb was consumed without freeing it. When fou->protocol == 0, every packet received on the socket returns 0 from fou_udp_recv() and leaks the sk_buff. Reject FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT when !cfg->protocol in fou_create() so that creating a direct encapsulation port without FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO fails with -EINVAL while leaving FOU_CMD_DEL and FOU_CMD_GET (which share parse_nl_config()) unaffected. Tested in QEMU against Linux 7.3.0-rc3 by sending a FOU_CMD_ADD Generic Netlink request with FOU_ATTR_PORT = 5555 and FOU_ATTR_TYPE = FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT while omitting FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO. On the unfixed kernel, FOU_CMD_ADD succeeds (err = 0), FOU_CMD_GET reports fou->type = 1 and fou->protocol = 0, and sending 4000 UDP packets to 127.0.0.1:5555 leaks all 4000 sk_buffs (SUnreclaim in /proc/meminfo grows from 41456 kB to 59008 kB, +17552 kB); with this patch applied, FOU_CMD_ADD is rejected with -EINVAL (-22).
Title fou: reject omitted FOU_ATTR_IPPROTO on FOU_ENCAP_DIRECT
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References

Projects

Sign in to view the affected projects.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-18T15:18:09.190Z

Reserved: 2026-09-25T10:25:14.356Z

Link: CVE-2026-98541

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-10-18T16:17:05.967

Modified: 2026-10-18T16:17:05.967

Link: CVE-2026-98541

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-10-18T17:30:16Z

Weaknesses