[SRU][Q][PATCH 1/1] netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: use expect->helper

[Cengiz Can]

From: Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo at netfilter.org>

Use expect->helper in ctnetlink and /proc to dump the helper name.
Using nfct_help() without holding a reference to the master conntrack
is unsafe.

Use exp->master->helper in ctnetlink path if userspace does not provide
an explicit helper when creating an expectation to retain the existing
behaviour. The ctnetlink expectation path holds the reference on the
master conntrack and nf_conntrack_expect lock and the nfnetlink glue
path refers to the master ct that is attached to the skb.

Reported-by: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel at gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal <fw at strlen.de>
Signed-off-by: Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo at netfilter.org>
(backported from commit f01794106042ee27e54af6fdf5b319a2fe3df94d)
[bot_kybele: backported to questing; review and refine this note]
CVE-2026-31414
Assisted-by: kybele:claude-opus-4.8
Signed-off-by: Cengiz Can <cengiz.can at canonical.com>
---
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c  |  2 +-
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.c  |  6 +-----
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c | 26 +++++++++++---------------
 net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c     |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
index cfc2daa3fc7f..50268d07888a 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_expect.c
@@ -654,7 +654,7 @@ static int exp_seq_show(struct seq_file *s, void *v)
 	if (expect->flags & NF_CT_EXPECT_USERSPACE)
 		seq_printf(s, "%sUSERSPACE", delim);
 
-	helper = rcu_dereference(nfct_help(expect->master)->helper);
+	helper = rcu_dereference(expect->helper);
 	if (helper) {
 		seq_printf(s, "%s%s", expect->flags ? " " : "", helper->name);
 		if (helper->expect_policy[expect->class].name[0])
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.c
index ceb48c3ca0a4..627d21848563 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_helper.c
@@ -395,14 +395,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nf_conntrack_helper_register);
 
 static bool expect_iter_me(struct nf_conntrack_expect *exp, void *data)
 {
-	struct nf_conn_help *help = nfct_help(exp->master);
 	const struct nf_conntrack_helper *me = data;
 	const struct nf_conntrack_helper *this;
 
-	if (exp->helper == me)
-		return true;
-
-	this = rcu_dereference_protected(help->helper,
+	this = rcu_dereference_protected(exp->helper,
 					 lockdep_is_held(&nf_conntrack_expect_lock));
 	return this == me;
 }
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
index 50fd6809380f..2dedf1657a2e 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_netlink.c
@@ -3030,7 +3030,7 @@ ctnetlink_exp_dump_expect(struct sk_buff *skb,
 {
 	struct nf_conn *master = exp->master;
 	long timeout = ((long)exp->timeout.expires - (long)jiffies) / HZ;
-	struct nf_conn_help *help;
+	struct nf_conntrack_helper *helper;
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_NF_NAT)
 	struct nlattr *nest_parms;
 	struct nf_conntrack_tuple nat_tuple = {};
@@ -3075,15 +3075,12 @@ ctnetlink_exp_dump_expect(struct sk_buff *skb,
 	    nla_put_be32(skb, CTA_EXPECT_FLAGS, htonl(exp->flags)) ||
 	    nla_put_be32(skb, CTA_EXPECT_CLASS, htonl(exp->class)))
 		goto nla_put_failure;
-	help = nfct_help(master);
-	if (help) {
-		struct nf_conntrack_helper *helper;
 
-		helper = rcu_dereference(help->helper);
-		if (helper &&
-		    nla_put_string(skb, CTA_EXPECT_HELP_NAME, helper->name))
-			goto nla_put_failure;
-	}
+	helper = rcu_dereference(exp->helper);
+	if (helper &&
+	    nla_put_string(skb, CTA_EXPECT_HELP_NAME, helper->name))
+		goto nla_put_failure;
+
 	expfn = nf_ct_helper_expectfn_find_by_symbol(exp->expectfn);
 	if (expfn != NULL &&
 	    nla_put_string(skb, CTA_EXPECT_FN, expfn->name))
@@ -3388,12 +3385,9 @@ static int ctnetlink_get_expect(struct sk_buff *skb,
 static bool expect_iter_name(struct nf_conntrack_expect *exp, void *data)
 {
 	struct nf_conntrack_helper *helper;
-	const struct nf_conn_help *m_help;
 	const char *name = data;
 
-	m_help = nfct_help(exp->master);
-
-	helper = rcu_dereference(m_help->helper);
+	helper = rcu_dereference(exp->helper);
 	if (!helper)
 		return false;
 
@@ -3528,9 +3522,9 @@ ctnetlink_alloc_expect(const struct nlattr * const cda[], struct nf_conn *ct,
 		       struct nf_conntrack_tuple *tuple,
 		       struct nf_conntrack_tuple *mask)
 {
-	u_int32_t class = 0;
 	struct nf_conntrack_expect *exp;
 	struct nf_conn_help *help;
+	u32 class = 0;
 	int err;
 
 	help = nfct_help(ct);
@@ -3567,7 +3561,9 @@ ctnetlink_alloc_expect(const struct nlattr * const cda[], struct nf_conn *ct,
 
 	exp->class = class;
 	exp->master = ct;
-	exp->helper = helper;
+	if (!helper)
+		helper = rcu_dereference(help->helper);
+	rcu_assign_pointer(exp->helper, helper);
 	exp->tuple = *tuple;
 	exp->mask.src.u3 = mask->src.u3;
 	exp->mask.src.u.all = mask->src.u.all;
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c
index ca748f8dbff1..0bae3cad7e7a 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_sip.c
@@ -924,7 +924,7 @@ static int set_expected_rtp_rtcp(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int protoff,
 		exp = __nf_ct_expect_find(net, nf_ct_zone(ct), &tuple);
 
 		if (!exp || exp->master == ct ||
-		    nfct_help(exp->master)->helper != nfct_help(ct)->helper ||
+		    exp->helper != nfct_help(ct)->helper ||
 		    exp->class != class)
 			break;
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_NF_NAT)
-- 
2.43.0