$ the-wire · showcase
TCP fast path tightens ACK validation, ALSA fixes a use-after-free
By RepoJournal · Filed · About Linux · Composed from the cited sources · methodology
7.3-rc4 brings networking and sound fixes where the interesting parts are correctness under fuzzing and packet-edge cases, not new features.
tcp: exclude old ACKs from tcp fast path torvalds/linux
ACKs before SND.UNA and after SND.NXT now skip the fast path and fall through to tcp_ack(), where RFC5961 challenge ACK handling and the validation from commit 3d501dd326fb1c7 ("tcp: do not accept ACK of bytes we never sent") apply. The old behavior let such packets be accepted or mutate connection state before validation ran.
net: skbuff: do not leave stale header offsets after pskb_carve() torvalds/linux
pskb_carve_inside_header() and pskb_carve_inside_nonlinear() called skb_headers_offset_update(skb, 0), which after the reallocation is a no-op, so mac_header, network_header, transport_header and csum_start kept pointing at bytes that no longer exist. Eric Dumazet's fix stops stale offsets from describing the carved packet's vanished headers.
Merge tag 'sound-7.3-rc4' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound torvalds/linux
Alongside device-specific fixes, the pull from Takashi Iwai lands two core repairs: a potential use-after-free after asynchronous card release and a race in PCM timer initialization order. USB-Audio also picks up hardening for issues found by a fuzzer.
Merge tag 'net-7.3-rc4' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net torvalds/linux
Paolo Abeni's pull covers regressions in Netfilter, Bluetooth, IPSec and WiFi: netfilter now holds a reference on ct until the flow is released, bridge moves the switchdev call outside RCU and fixes vlan bugs from switchdev deletion errors, and mac80211 resets state when starting an AP fails.
Merge tag 'dma-mapping-7.3-2026-09-17' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mszyprowski/linux torvalds/linux
Marek Szyprowski's dma-mapping pull resolves a regression in accessing encrypted memory by IOMMU-backed devices and improves failure handling around swiotlb/highmem.
