In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tipc: require net admin for TIPCv2 netlink mutators TIPCv2 registers mutating generic-netlink operations without admin permission flags

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tipc: require net admin for TIPCv2 netlink mutators

TIPCv2 registers mutating generic-netlink operations without admin permission flags. Generic netlink only checks CAP_NET_ADMIN when an operation sets GENL_ADMIN_PERM or GENL_UNS_ADMIN_PERM, so a local unprivileged process can currently change TIPC state through commands such as TIPC_NL_NET_SET, TIPC_NL_KEY_SET, TIPC_NL_KEY_FLUSH, and bearer enable/disable.

The legacy TIPC netlink API already checks netlink_net_capable(..., CAP_NET_ADMIN) for administrative commands. Give the TIPCv2 mutators the equivalent generic-netlink gate. Use GENL_UNS_ADMIN_PERM, which maps to the same namespace-aware CAP_NET_ADMIN check that netlink_net_capable() performs, so the behaviour matches the legacy path and keeps working for CAP_NET_ADMIN holders in a non-initial user namespace (containers).

A QEMU/KASAN repro run as uid/gid 65534 with zero effective capabilities previously succeeded in changing the network id and node identity, setting and flushing key material, and enabling/disabling a UDP bearer. With this patch applied the same operations fail with -EPERM.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.