In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf, xdp: move offload check into dev_xdp_install() bpf_xdp_link_update() calls dev_xdp_install() directly and skips dev_xdp_attach(), so the checks in dev_xdp_attach(…

Overview

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

bpf, xdp: move offload check into dev_xdp_install()

bpf_xdp_link_update() calls dev_xdp_install() directly and skips dev_xdp_attach(), so the checks in dev_xdp_attach() do not run. A user can make an XDP link with a normal program and then swap in an offloaded or device-bound program with BPF_LINK_UPDATE, which puts it on the software path.

dev_xdp_install() is the one place all three paths go through: "ip link set xdp" and BPF_LINK_CREATE reach it via dev_xdp_attach(), and BPF_LINK_UPDATE calls it directly. So move the program checks (offloaded, bound to another device, device-bound in generic mode, native vs generic, DEVMAP and CPUMAP) there, and keep only the netlink-flag check (XDP_FLAGS_UPDATE_IF_NOEXIST) in dev_xdp_attach().

Remediation

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

Vendor advisories

• Red Hat VEX · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, … · updated 2026-10-21 · vex