[PATCH 1/5] idpf: skip getting/setting ring params if vport is NULL during HW reset

From: Li Li

Date: Tue Jan 06 2026 - 20:05:10 EST


When an idpf HW reset is triggered, it clears the vport but does
not clear the netdev held by vport:

// In idpf_vport_dealloc() called by idpf_init_hard_reset(),
// idpf_init_hard_reset() sets IDPF_HR_RESET_IN_PROG, so
// idpf_decfg_netdev() doesn't get called.
if (!test_bit(IDPF_HR_RESET_IN_PROG, adapter->flags))
idpf_decfg_netdev(vport);
// idpf_decfg_netdev() would clear netdev but it isn't called:
unregister_netdev(vport->netdev);
free_netdev(vport->netdev);
vport->netdev = NULL;
// Later in idpf_init_hard_reset(), the vport is cleared:
kfree(adapter->vports);
adapter->vports = NULL;

During an idpf HW reset, when "ethtool -g/-G" is called on the netdev,
the vport associated with the netdev is NULL, and so a kernel panic
would happen:

[ 513.185327] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000038
...
[ 513.232756] RIP: 0010:idpf_get_ringparam+0x45/0x80

This can be reproduced reliably by injecting a TX timeout to cause
an idpf HW reset, and injecting a virtchnl error to cause the HW
reset to fail and retry, while calling "ethtool -g/-G" on the netdev
at the same time.

With this patch applied, we see the following error but no kernel
panics anymore:

[ 476.323630] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth1: failed to get ring params due to no vport in netdev

Signed-off-by: Li Li <boolli@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_ethtool.c | 12 ++++++++++++
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_ethtool.c
index d5711be0b8e69..6a4b630b786c2 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_ethtool.c
@@ -639,6 +638,10 @@ static void idpf_get_ringparam(struct net_device *netdev,

idpf_vport_ctrl_lock(netdev);
vport = idpf_netdev_to_vport(netdev);
+ if (!vport) {
+ netdev_err(netdev, "failed to get ring params due to no vport in netdev\n");
+ goto unlock;
+ }

ring->rx_max_pending = IDPF_MAX_RXQ_DESC;
ring->tx_max_pending = IDPF_MAX_TXQ_DESC;
@@ -647,6 +651,7 @@ static void idpf_get_ringparam(struct net_device *netdev,

kring->tcp_data_split = idpf_vport_get_hsplit(vport);

+unlock:
idpf_vport_ctrl_unlock(netdev);
}

@@ -673,6 +674,11 @@ static int idpf_set_ringparam(struct net_device *netdev,

idpf_vport_ctrl_lock(netdev);
vport = idpf_netdev_to_vport(netdev);
+ if (!vport) {
+ netdev_err(netdev, "ring params not changed due to no vport in netdev\n");
+ err = -EFAULT;
+ goto unlock_mutex;
+ }

idx = vport->idx;

--
2.52.0.351.gbe84eed79e-goog