[PATCH net] macvlan: fix allmulti reference counting in passthru mode

From: Prasad Koya

Date: Mon Oct 26 2026 - 22:47:06 EST


Enabling allmulticast on a down passthru macvlan, bringing it up,
then toggling allmulticast off and on can underflow the lower device's
allmulti reference count.

macvlan_change_rx_flags() only propagates IFF_ALLMULTI changes while
the macvlan is up. However, the passthru path in macvlan_open() skips
taking an allmulti reference when IFF_ALLMULTI is already set.
Clearing allmulticast after opening the device therefore decrements
a reference that was never taken. With no other allmulti users, the
unsigned counter wraps from zero to UINT_MAX. The next increment
fails with -EOVERFLOW and reports "allmulti touches roof".

Signed-off-by: Prasad Koya <prasad@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Reproducer:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

ns=allmulti-test
host=am-veth0
peer=am-veth1
mv=am-mv0

cleanup()
{
ip netns del "$ns" 2>/dev/null || true
}
trap cleanup EXIT

ip netns add "$ns"
ip link add "$host" type veth peer name "$peer"
ip link set "$peer" netns "$ns"

ip link set "$host" up
ip -n "$ns" link set lo up
ip -n "$ns" link set "$peer" up

ip -n "$ns" link add link "$peer" name "$mv" type macvlan mode passthru

ip -n "$ns" link set dev "$mv" allmulticast on
ip -n "$ns" link set dev "$mv" up
ip -n "$ns" link set dev "$mv" allmulticast off
ip -n "$ns" link set dev "$mv" allmulticast on

drivers/net/macvlan.c | 10 ++++++++++
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
index afad90b9222a..e20d587453d1 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
@@ -643,6 +643,14 @@ static int macvlan_open(struct net_device *dev)
if (err < 0)
goto out;
}
+ if (dev->flags & IFF_ALLMULTI) {
+ err = dev_set_allmulti(lowerdev, 1);
+ if (err < 0) {
+ if (!(vlan->flags & MACVLAN_FLAG_NOPROMISC))
+ dev_set_promiscuity(lowerdev, -1);
+ goto out;
+ }
+ }
goto hash_add;
}

@@ -713,6 +721,8 @@ static int macvlan_stop(struct net_device *dev)
dev_mc_unsync(lowerdev, dev);

if (macvlan_passthru(vlan->port)) {
+ if (dev->flags & IFF_ALLMULTI)
+ dev_set_allmulti(lowerdev, -1);
if (!(vlan->flags & MACVLAN_FLAG_NOPROMISC))
dev_set_promiscuity(lowerdev, -1);
goto hash_del;

base-commit: 7076f684d5132e6a6145e1da2fa74771ecd052e5
--
2.43.0