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CVE-2026-90110NVD
Vulnerability Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
inetpeer: randomize RB-tree node comparison using SipHash
The inetpeer rate limiting system stores peer entries in a Red-Black tree
keyed deterministically on the remote IP address. Because tree lookups walk
the RB-tree using standard lexicographical comparisons (inetpeer_addr_cmp),
an off-path adversary can predict the exact topology of the tree and the
sequence of nodes traversed during lookups (the gc_stack candidate list).
By combining deterministic tree traversal with aggressive garbage collection
(triggered when tree size exceeds inet_peer_threshold), an attacker can
selectively force the eviction of targeted inet_peer nodes. When an evicted
node is subsequently re-created upon receiving a new packet, its rate-limiting
token bucket (rate_tokens, rate_last) is reset to full capacity. This creates
a side-channel primitive allowing off-path attackers to bypass IP-keyed ICMP
rate limits and infer open UDP ports (similar to SAD DNS style attacks).
Mitigate this by randomizing the RB-tree node comparison logic using SipHash
with a secret key (inetpeer_hash_key) initialized via net_get_random_once().
Nodes are ordered in the tree by SipHash(addr, key) rather than raw IP
addresses. Because the secret key is unknown to external entities, the tree
layout and lookup traversal paths are unpredictable to off-path adversaries,
breaking the deterministic eviction gadget.
Cache the computed 64-bit SipHash (hash) in struct inet_peer and compute the
target hash (dhash) once at the beginning of inet_getpeer() to avoid recomputing
SipHash at every step of the RB-tree walk.
inetpeer: randomize RB-tree node comparison using SipHash
The inetpeer rate limiting system stores peer entries in a Red-Black tree
keyed deterministically on the remote IP address. Because tree lookups walk
the RB-tree using standard lexicographical comparisons (inetpeer_addr_cmp),
an off-path adversary can predict the exact topology of the tree and the
sequence of nodes traversed during lookups (the gc_stack candidate list).
By combining deterministic tree traversal with aggressive garbage collection
(triggered when tree size exceeds inet_peer_threshold), an attacker can
selectively force the eviction of targeted inet_peer nodes. When an evicted
node is subsequently re-created upon receiving a new packet, its rate-limiting
token bucket (rate_tokens, rate_last) is reset to full capacity. This creates
a side-channel primitive allowing off-path attackers to bypass IP-keyed ICMP
rate limits and infer open UDP ports (similar to SAD DNS style attacks).
Mitigate this by randomizing the RB-tree node comparison logic using SipHash
with a secret key (inetpeer_hash_key) initialized via net_get_random_once().
Nodes are ordered in the tree by SipHash(addr, key) rather than raw IP
addresses. Because the secret key is unknown to external entities, the tree
layout and lookup traversal paths are unpredictable to off-path adversaries,
breaking the deterministic eviction gadget.
Cache the computed 64-bit SipHash (hash) in struct inet_peer and compute the
target hash (dhash) once at the beginning of inet_getpeer() to avoid recomputing
SipHash at every step of the RB-tree walk.
CVSS v3.1 Base Metrics — Score 9.4 (CRITICAL)
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityLow
Affected & Patched Versions
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < b20e98f0bb668a59abaf7bcf85d75c073e90d352
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < 5f127e3cc9647a8a70db12c65dbd0de473545380
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < 199fcf285e498111e029137d088949bc6c26d578
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < 857681f6835d5b0a7bc4a34a026baeaaf5215623
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < 7109bb63667a53e4542ad845476f97d0c8b28a61
- Linux Linux >= b145425f269a17ed344d737f746b844dfac60c82 and < 2ee66e9487172fcd189bc52a767c30dad7141c09
- Linux Linux >= 4.14
- Linux Linux b20e98f0bb668a59abaf7bcf85d75c073e90d352
- Linux Linux 5f127e3cc9647a8a70db12c65dbd0de473545380
- Linux Linux 199fcf285e498111e029137d088949bc6c26d578
- Linux Linux 857681f6835d5b0a7bc4a34a026baeaaf5215623
- Linux Linux 7109bb63667a53e4542ad845476f97d0c8b28a61
- Linux Linux 2ee66e9487172fcd189bc52a767c30dad7141c09
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b20e98f0bb668a59abaf7bcf85d75c073e90d352
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5f127e3cc9647a8a70db12c65dbd0de473545380
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/199fcf285e498111e029137d088949bc6c26d578
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/857681f6835d5b0a7bc4a34a026baeaaf5215623
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7109bb63667a53e4542ad845476f97d0c8b28a61
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ee66e9487172fcd189bc52a767c30dad7141c09