Linux Kernel TC Classifier Filter Allocations in the change() Path Use Plain GFP Flags Without Accounting to memcg, Allowing Container Workloads to Exhaust Host Memory Without Being Charged

Status: NEW  |  Advisory ID: CVE-2026-90099

Key Details

What to Know

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

net/sched: account classifier filter allocations to memcg

Allocations in the tc classifier *_change() paths (filter objects,

per-CPU counters, and per-filter aux data) use plain GFP_KERNEL without

__GFP_ACCOUNT, allowing unprivileged users to pin kernel memory outside

memcg charging. The shared tcf_exts_init_ex() action array allocation in

cls_api.c was also uncharged; this patch closes it along with the

per-classifier filter-object/percpu/aux allocations that remain

unaccounted.

Add GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT to:

- the shared tcf_exts_init_ex() action array (cls_api.c), common to every

filter of every classifier (32 pointers, 256 bytes);

- the filter-object, per-CPU-counter, and per-filter aux allocations in

cls_basic, cls_bpf, cls_cgroup, cls_flow, cls_flower, cls_fw,

cls_matchall, cls_route and cls_u32;

- the u32_init_knode() replace-path knode allocation (cls_u32.c), which

allocates the same struct tc_u_knode + sel.keys on every replace of an

existing knode and was missed by the create-path-only conversion.

Also fix the cls_basic error path: basic_change() inserts fnew into the

IDR before allocating the per-CPU counter. If alloc_percpu() fails the

errout path kfree'd fnew without idr_remove, leaving a dangling pointer

in the IDR. With GFP_KERNEL_ACCOUNT the percpu alloc becomes failable

on demand (memcg at memory.max), making the dead path attacker-reachable

and burning the handle permanently. Add the idr_remove on the percpu

failure path, matching the basic_set_parms failure-path pattern.

Note: [email protected] provided a poc for basic_cls, but it was easy to

extend to the other classifiers.

Conditions to recreate the bug:

- CONFIG_NET_SCHED, CONFIG_NET_CLS_* (the classifier being used),

CONFIG_NET_CLS_ACT, CONFIG_MEMCG, CONFIG_USER_NS, CONFIG_NET_NS.

- Unprivileged user in a fresh user+network namespace (unshare -Urn),

or root with CAP_NET_ADMIN.

- Create a large number of tc filters (e.g. tc filter add dev lo

ingress ... <classifier> ...) while watching a memcg-limited cgroup:

system slab grows far faster than memory.current, pinning kernel

memory outside memcg charging. (NVD)

References