Re: [PATCH nf] netfilter: nf_tables: fix device name and prefix match in hook lookup

Hi Fernando,

On Tue, Aug 18, 2026 at 12:18:25PM +0200, Fernando Fernandez Mancera wrote:
> Currently, a netdev chain or flowtable hooked to a device prefix can be
> unintentionally deleted or updated by a control-plane request targeting
> an exact device name or even a shorter one due to the usage of min() to
> calculate the length to match.
> 
> Fix this by making sure an exact device match never matches a prefix and
> that both the target and the candidate have the same length.
> 
> Reported-by: Wei Fang <[email protected]>
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/netfilter-devel/CANE+tVrDeNCHQVmsqkV2ozeBqyE3GtRDMhZgsg1bhw10yGNTRQ@mail.gmail.com/
> Fixes: 6d07a289504a ("netfilter: nf_tables: Support wildcard netdev hook specs")
> Signed-off-by: Fernando Fernandez Mancera <[email protected]>
> ---
>  net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c | 9 ++++++---
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
> index af357f6c5070..e2b18c4722fc 100644
> --- a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
> +++ b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
> @@ -1973,7 +1973,7 @@ static int nft_dump_stats(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nft_stats __percpu *stats)
>  	return -ENOSPC;
>  }
>  
> -static bool hook_is_prefix(struct nft_hook *hook)
> +static bool hook_is_prefix(const struct nft_hook *hook)
>  {
>  	return strlen(hook->ifname) >= hook->ifnamelen;
>  }
> @@ -2440,8 +2440,11 @@ static struct nft_hook *nft_hook_list_find(struct list_head *hook_list,
>  	struct nft_hook *hook;
>  
>  	list_for_each_entry(hook, hook_list, list) {
> -		if (!strncmp(hook->ifname, this->ifname,
> -			     min(hook->ifnamelen, this->ifnamelen))) {
> +		if (hook_is_prefix(hook) != hook_is_prefix(this))
> +			continue;
> +		if (hook->ifnamelen != this->ifnamelen)
> +			continue;
> +		if (!strncmp(hook->ifname, this->ifname, hook->ifnamelen)) {
>  			if (hook->flags & NFT_HOOK_REMOVE)
>  				continue;

I think this fix introduces another issue, when adding another prefix to
a flowtable/chain which partially matches an existing prefix. E.g.,
adding "eth*" with "eth0*" present must be rejected since we otherwise
end up trying to register a new interface "eth007" to two hooks at the
same time.

Maybe we need a "bool exact" flag which turns the min() intoa a max()?
(untested ;)

Cheers, Phil