CVE-2026-72296: net: ife: require ETH_HLEN to be pullable in ife_decode()
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ife: require ETHHLEN to be pullable in ifedecode()
ife decode may return after making only the outer IFE header and metadata pullable. The caller then passes the decapsulated packet to ethtypetrans(), which expects the inner Ethernet header to be accessible from the linear data area.
With a malformed IFE frame, the inner Ethernet header may still be shorter than ETHHLEN in the linear area, which can lead to a crash in the original code.
Fix this by extending the pull check in ifedecode() so that the inner Ethernet header is also guaranteed to be pullable before returning.
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Configuration
Extend the pull check in ife_decode() so that ETH_HLEN (inner Ethernet header length) must be pullable in the linear data area before eth_type_trans() is called; this prevents ife_decode() from returning after only the outer IFE header/metadata is pullable when the inner header is shorter than ETH_HLEN.
Linux kernel net: ife ife_decode() pull check = Require ETH_HLEN to be pullable before returning/decapsulating inner Ethernet header