net/sched: sch_hfsc: bound the classify inner-filter walk with a drift budget

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: sch_hfsc: bound the classify inner-filter walk with a drift budget hfsc_classify() applies the "filter may only point downwards" level check only when the filter result carries no bound class. A filter created with a flowid gets res.class set once at bind time, so the check never runs for it during classification. hfsc_adjust_levels() can later raise a class's level without revalidating existing bindings, leaving two binds that were each legal at bind time pointing at each other; the classify walk then bounces between two interior classes forever with the qdisc lock held and BH disabled — a soft lockup from a single packet. The stuck walk trips the watchdog: watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#3 stuck for 13s! [ping:444] RIP: 0010:u32_classify+0x542/0x17f0 ... tcf_classify+0x66/0xa0 hfsc_enqueue+0x166/0xdf0 Bound the traversal with a budget of non-descending hops, the only way a configured walk can move without descending the class tree once levels drift after bind time. The budget is cumulative over the whole walk and is deliberately not reset on a descending hop: a chain that alternates a descent with a lateral hop would return the budget every lap and never trip. Descending hops never decrement it, so legitimately deep trees are unaffected and a terminating lateral chain still classifies normally. Drop the packet with a rate-limited warning once the budget is exhausted, mirroring the merged HTB fix. This is a follow-up to commit 729c4896ab82 ("net/sched: sch_htb: limit htb_classify inner-class filter hops"), which bounded the same classify loop on the HTB side but left the HFSC walk unbounded. Conditions to recreate the bug: • CONFIG_NET_SCHED, CONFIG_NET_SCH_HFSC, CONFIG_NET_CLS_U32, CONFIG_LOCKUP_DETECTOR. • Build a cycle with two legal-at-bind-time flowid binds and a level drift: class X 1:1 (child of root) with leaf child 1:10; class Y 1:2 (sibling of X) with children 1:20 and 1:200; root u32 filter flowid 1:1; filter on X flowid 1:2 (legal when Y is a leaf); after Y's level rises to 2, filter on Y flowid 1:1 (legal then). Send one packet (ping on the device). Unfixed kernel: classify spins with the qdisc lock held; with softlockup_panic=1 it panics. • Reachable from unprivileged user via unshare -Urn (CAP_NET_ADMIN).

Timeline

1. Oct 18, 2026, 3:19 PM UTCCVE published
2. Oct 19, 2026, 9:22 AM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• Linux Linux

  From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in d4fd251e3311727c32af89344d3332f788c153a2; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in 30d7fea767e830bd81ac2f73d2e33c877cb2e679; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in f476fb656ca2326d7b2eba98d03ced1cbcf5cd99; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in e8f9979286f70dfbfe0552e2a63000950841bea6; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in 2bd20245dd658789d8cccb37697967b4caba6ad8; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in 0fa25ba50a382d79c0cf060214c2095756836f5f; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in 1301a1292c6742b4c96a18715d49f89c3caca0d7; From a2f79227138c71e08627af5f8961197364edbc98 · fixed in 8a60ade2277e1f0e0d0578d565354e52292fa46d

• Linux Linux

  2.6.35

• KernelLinux

  From 2.6.35 · fixed in 5.10.271; From 5.11.0 · fixed in 5.15.222; From 5.16.0 · fixed in 6.1.189; From 6.2.0 · fixed in 6.6.158; From 6.7.0 · fixed in 6.12.112; From 6.13.0 · fixed in 6.18.55; From 6.19.0 · fixed in 7.2.9

References 8