CVE-2026-93203: batman-adv: bla: avoid CRC corruption due to parallel claim add
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
batman-adv: bla: avoid CRC corruption due to parallel claim add
batadvblaaddclaim() is used to add claims and modify the backbone of claims for CLAIM frames from remote backbones and local packets. When it handles a claim, it needs to either
add the new claim's CRC to the backbone CRC remove the already existing claim's CRC from the old backbone and add it to the new backbone
But when the "new" claim code was running in parallel to the "change backbone" code, it can happen that the CRC was invalid because the backbonegw of the claim was changed twice in the "new" claim code path:
CPU0 creates the claim for gateway A and publishes it in the claim hash. The crc16 of the address has not yet been added to A's crc at this point.
CPU1 processes a claim frame of gateway B for the same client, finds the just published claim, and performs the ownership change: it switches the pointer to B, removes the crc16 from A's crc - which never contained it - and adds it to B's crc.
CPU0 continues behind the creation branch, unconditionally switches the pointer back to A without compensating B's crc (its removecrc is false for the creation path), and finally adds the crc16 to A's crc
The CRC is then wrong for both:
claim belongs to A: but CRC is not part of backbone A's CRC claim doesn't belong to B: CRC is still part of backbone B's CRC
This wrong CRC is never recomputated from the stored claims. For local backbone claims, this can also not recovered using syncs.
To avoid this, split the functionality in clear separate parts:
new claim which always adds claim CRC to the backbone CRC (but never changes the already set backbonegw of the claim back)
update of existing claim which automatically changes the backbonegw entry and only updates both backbone CRCs when there was an actual change
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Compensating control
Mitigate the risk of CRC corruption from parallel claim add/change paths by ensuring claim processing does not run concurrently in a way that could cause backbone_gw to be changed twice in the "new" claim code path (batadv_bla_add_claim()).
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What conditions are needed for the CRC corruption to occur?
Two claim-processing paths must run in parallel for the same client: one creates and publishes a claim for one gateway while another processes a claim frame assigning that client to a different gateway. The race occurs when the first path has published the claim but has not yet added its CRC to the original gateway's CRC.
What state is left inconsistent by the race?
The claim can be switched between gateways in a sequence that removes its CRC from a gateway that never received it and adds it to another gateway without later compensating for that addition. This leaves the backbone CRC data invalid.
How can this be remediated?
Apply a Linux kernel update that includes the resolved batman-adv BLA claim-handling fix. The provided references identify stable-kernel commits containing the fix, but no affected or fixed kernel version numbers are supplied.