Security Bulletin
Summary
An unauthenticated attacker on the FSP's local network can cause loss of service.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2026-52943
DESCRIPTION: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: skbuff: fix missing zerocopy reference in pskb_carve helpers
pskb_carve_inside_header() and pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() both copy
the old skb_shared_info header into a new buffer via memcpy(), which
includes the destructor_arg pointer (uarg) for MSG_ZEROCOPY skbs.
Neither function calls net_zcopy_get() for the new shinfo, creating an
unaccounted holder: every skb_shared_info with destructor_arg set will
call skb_zcopy_clear() once when freed, but the corresponding
net_zcopy_get() was never called for the new copy. Repeated calls
drive uarg-refcnt to zero prematurely, freeing ubuf_info_msgzc while
TX skbs still hold live destructor_arg pointers.
KASAN reports use-after-free on a freed ubuf_info_msgzc:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in skb_release_data+0x77b/0x810
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88801574d3e8 by task poc/220
Call Trace:
skb_release_data+0x77b/0x810
kfree_skb_list_reason+0x13e/0x610
skb_release_data+0x4cd/0x810
sk_skb_reason_drop+0xf3/0x340
skb_queue_purge_reason+0x282/0x440
rds_tcp_inc_free+0x1e/0x30
rds_recvmsg+0x354/0x1780
__sys_recvmsg+0xdf/0x180
Allocated by task 219:
msg_zerocopy_realloc+0x157/0x7b0
tcp_sendmsg_locked+0x2892/0x3ba0
Freed by task 219:
ip_recv_error+0x74a/0xb10
tcp_recvmsg+0x475/0x530
The skb consuming the late access still referenced the same uarg via
shinfo-destructor_arg copied by pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() without
a refcount bump. This has been verified to be reliably exploitable: a
working proof-of-concept achieves full root privilege escalation from
an unprivileged local user on a default kernel configuration.
The fix follows the pattern of pskb_expand_head() which has the same
memcpy/cloned structure. For pskb_carve_inside_header(), net_zcopy_get()
is placed after skb_orphan_frags() succeeds, so the orphan error path
needs no cleanup. For pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear(), net_zcopy_get() is
placed after all failure points and just before skb_release_data(), so
no error path needs cleanup at all -- matching pskb_expand_head() more
closely and avoiding the need for a balancing net_zcopy_put().
CWE: CWE-416: Use After Free
CVSS Source: Linux
CVSS Base score: 7.8
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2026-43373
DESCRIPTION: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ncsi: fix skb leak in error paths
Early return paths in NCSI RX and AEN handlers fail to release
the received skb, resulting in a memory leak.
Specifically, ncsi_aen_handler() returns on invalid AEN packets
without consuming the skb. Similarly, ncsi_rcv_rsp() exits early
when failing to resolve the NCSI device, response handler, or
request, leaving the skb unfreed.
CWE: CWE-401: Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
CVSS Source: Linux
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
CVEID: CVE-2026-43194
DESCRIPTION: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: consume xmit errors of GSO frames
udpgro_frglist.sh and udpgro_bench.sh are the flakiest tests
currently in NIPA. They fail in the same exact way, TCP GRO
test stalls occasionally and the test gets killed after 10min.
These tests use veth to simulate GRO. They attach a trivial
("return XDP_PASS;") XDP program to the veth to force TSO off
and NAPI on.
Digging into the failure mode we can see that the connection
is completely stuck after a burst of drops. The sender's snd_nxt
is at sequence number N [1], but the receiver claims to have
received (rcv_nxt) up to N + 3 * MSS [2]. Last piece of the puzzle
is that senders rtx queue is not empty (let's say the block in
the rtx queue is at sequence number N - 4 * MSS [3]).
In this state, sender sends a retransmission from the rtx queue
with a single segment, and sequence numbers N-4*MSS:N-3*MSS [3].
Receiver sees it and responds with an ACK all the way up to
N + 3 * MSS [2]. But sender will reject this ack as TCP_ACK_UNSENT_DATA
because it has no recollection of ever sending data that far out [1].
And we are stuck.
The root cause is the mess of the xmit return codes. veth returns
an error when it can't xmit a frame. We end up with a loss event
like this:
-------------------------------------------------
| GSO super frame 1 | GSO super frame 2 |
|-----------------------------------------------|
| seg | seg | seg | seg | seg | seg | seg | seg |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
-------------------------------------------------
x ok ok ok| ok ok ok x
\\
snd_nxt
"x" means packet lost by veth, and "ok" means it went thru.
Since veth has TSO disabled in this test it sees individual segments.
Segment 1 is on the retransmit queue and will be resent.
So why did the sender not advance snd_nxt even tho it clearly did
send up to seg 8? tcp_write_xmit() interprets the return code
from the core to mean that data has not been sent at all. Since
TCP deals with GSO super frames, not individual segment the crux
of the problem is that loss of a single segment can be interpreted
as loss of all. TCP only sees the last return code for the last
segment of the GSO frame (in brackets in the diagram above).
Of course for the problem to occur we need a setup or a device
without a Qdisc. Otherwise Qdisc layer disconnects the protocol
layer from the device errors completely.
We have multiple ways to fix this.
1) make veth not return an error when it lost a packet.
While this is what I think we did in the past, the issue keeps
reappearing and it's annoying to debug. The game of whack
a mole is not great.
2) fix the damn return codes
We only talk about NETDEV_TX_OK and NETDEV_TX_BUSY in the
documentation, so maybe we should make the return code from
ndo_start_xmit() a boolean. I like that the most, but perhaps
some ancient, not-really-networking protocol would suffer.
3) make TCP ignore the errors
It is not entirely clear to me what benefit TCP gets from
interpreting the result of ip_queue_xmit()? Specifically once
the connection is established and we're pushing data - packet
loss is just packet loss?
4) this fix
Ignore the rc in the Qdisc-less+GSO case, since it's unreliable.
We already always return OK in the TCQ_F_CAN_BYPASS case.
In the Qdisc-less case let's be a bit more conservative and only
mask the GSO errors. This path is taken by non-IP-"networks"
like CAN, MCTP etc, so we could regress some ancient thing.
This is the simplest, but also maybe the hackiest fix?
Similar fix has been proposed by Eric in the past but never committed
because original reporter was working with an OOT driver and wasn't
providing feedback (see Link).
CVSS Source: Linux
CVSS Base score: 7.5
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| Server Firmware | FW1120.00 |
| Server Firmware | FW1110.00 - FW1110.30 |
| Server Firmware | FW1060.00 - FW1060.80 |
Remediation/Fixes
Customers with the products below should install FW1120.01(1120_167), FW1110.31(1110_134) or newer to remediate this vulnerability.
Power 11
1) IBM Power System E1180 (9080-HEU)
Customers with the products below should install FW1060.81(1060_184) or newer to remediate this vulnerability.
Power 10
1) IBM Power System E1080 (9080-HEX)
The images mentioned above can be located at IBM Fix Central : https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/
Workarounds and Mitigations
Protect access to the FSP's network interface.
Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins
References
Acknowledgement
Change History
15 Aug 2026: Initial Publication
*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.
Disclaimer
According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
15 August 2026
Initial Publish date:
15 August 2026
UID
ibm17283892