net: stmmac: fix TX descriptor availability check for TSO traffic
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: stmmac: fix TX descriptor availability check for TSO traffic stmmac_tso_xmit() estimates the number of free TX descriptors required by a TSO skb as: (skb->len - proto_hdr_len) / TSO_MAX_BUFF_SIZE + 1 which assumes the payload is split into TSO_MAX_BUFF_SIZE chunks. This underestimates the descriptors actually consumed by stmmac_tso_allocator(), since each fragment is mapped individually and so it needs at least one descriptor regardless of its size. Moreover, one descriptor is used for the L2/L3/L4 headers and, when the MSS changes, one more is consumed for the MSS context descriptor. For a highly fragmented TSO skb the check can therefore pass even when the ring has too few free slots. stmmac_tso_allocator() then writes past the available descriptors, overwriting descriptors still owned by the DMA engine, corrupting the TX ring. Add stmmac_tso_get_num_desc() to compute the exact number of descriptors needed for the header, the linear payload and each fragment, plus the MSS context descriptor when required, and use it in the availability check.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 7 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-97953
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4j3p-7h59-gp38
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/Linux@09c30547da2c45bb79f7d3adffc860af332c2d42, Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09c30547da2c45bb79f7d3adffc860af332c2d42
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ffa6d2481bc1c87f822ecd626561484e4ee24cef
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c28175220f808c867d5618de8ecc6dbcc815c773
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65820fc743eae322f7f94f6a64d07861211d4b21
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5e38d732ec67a5b1f9a56e6c73add480c4b6030a
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Sources
- CVE-2026-97953 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-97953 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-4j3p-7h59-gp38 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-97953 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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