possible arp table corruption [2.4.18]

[Carsten Otto]

Hello!

I noticed a few strange errors in the arp table of a local firewall serving
about 300 connected computers.
This PC is running 2.4.18 (Debian Woody) and I get the list via the program
"arp" (version 1.60-4, called from inside a python script). This script is called
about every 20 seconds.

I don't know if the kernel or "arp" or something else is broken, but I don't
think "arp" does change much before printing the output. That is why I think
posting the problem to this list is not very wrong.

Here are some examples of the errors:

134.130.48.66            ether   00:00:5A:13:3A:36   C   eth0
134.130.49.152           ether   00:50:04:46:8A:B2   C   eth0 <- wrong!
134.130.49.45            ether   00:50:FC:FF:62:4E   C   eth0

---

134.130.48.240           ether   00:02:3F:AF:3C:B4   C   eth0
134.130.48.157           ether   00:10:4B:45:86:6C   C   eth0 <- OK
134.130.48.157           ether   00:10:4B:45:86:6C   C   eth0 <- double!
134.130.48.213           ether   00:0E:A6:3B:41:81   C   eth0

---

134.130.48.186           ether   00:04:61:52:CC:9F   C   eth0 
134.130.49.41            ether   00:02:3F:68:67:E9   C   eth0 <- OK
134.130.48.40            ether   00:02:3F:68:67:E9   C   eth0 <- MAC repeated
134.130.48.40            ether   00:07:95:04:C8:3C   C   eth0 <- OK
134.130.49.159           ether   00:E0:18:2D:95:F0   C   eth0

I also got a "134.130.4x.6xx" IP a few times, but that case is not in my logs.

Please tell me
   - if there is a known bug in (at least) 2.4.18
   - if "arp" is broken
   - if I am doing something wrong

Please also reply directly to me, because the LKML is quite complex.

Thank you very much,
-- 
Carsten Otto
c-otto@xxxxxx
www.c-otto.de

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