The Linux kernel incorrectly interprets transmission return codes from veth devices when Generic Segmentation Offload (GSO) frames are involved, treating a failed segment as a failure for the entire GSO super frame. This misinterpretation can cause the sender’s retransmission queue to become desynchronised from the receiver’s acknowledgements, leading to a permanent stall of the TCP connection. The resulting denial of service manifests as a hung network link or application unable to progress any data transfer. The CVE exploits the kernel’s failure‑handling logic, which can be triggered by sending crafted packets that cause transmission errors on an interface lacking a queuing discipline.

All Linux kernel builds using the default networking stack are impacted; specific version information is not provided, so this vulnerability applies to current and recent kernels until the patch is released. The issue surfaces on interfaces such as veth or other devices operating without a qdisc, where the transport layer is directly exposed to lower‑layer transmission failures.

The exploitation path involves sending packets that trigger GSO framing on a veth or similar interface without a qdisc, causing the kernel to misinterpret the loss of a single segment as a loss of the entire GSO super frame. This leads to a continuous retransmission loop and eventual complete inhibition of TCP progress. The scenario is locally controllable via network traffic and can be amplified by an adversary with network privileges or by misconfiguring the kernel networking stack.