Re: [PATCH 2/2] xen-netfront: Fix race between device setup and open

[David Miller]

From: Ross Lagerwall <ross.lagerwall@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2018 09:36:38 +0000

> When a netfront device is set up it registers a netdev fairly early on,
> before it has set up the queues and is actually usable. A userspace tool
> like NetworkManager will immediately try to open it and access its state
> as soon as it appears. The bug can be reproduced by hotplugging VIFs
> until the VM runs out of grant refs. It registers the netdev but fails
> to set up any queues (since there are no more grant refs). In the
> meantime, NetworkManager opens the device and the kernel crashes trying
> to access the queues (of which there are none).
> 
> Fix this in two ways:
> * For initial setup, register the netdev much later, after the queues
> are setup. This avoids the race entirely.
> * During a suspend/resume cycle, the frontend reconnects to the backend
> and the queues are recreated. It is possible (though highly unlikely) to
> race with something opening the device and accessing the queues after
> they have been destroyed but before they have been recreated. Extend the
> region covered by the rtnl semaphore to protect against this race. There
> is a possibility that we fail to recreate the queues so check for this
> in the open function.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ross Lagerwall <ross.lagerwall@xxxxxxxxxx>

Where is patch 1/2 and the 0/2 header posting which explains what this
patch series is doing, how it is doing it, and why it is doing it that
way?

Thanks.