RE: [Intel-wired-lan] [PATCH 5/5] idpf: skip stopping/opening vport if it is NULL during HW reset

[Loktionov, Aleksandr]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Intel-wired-lan <intel-wired-lan-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
> Of Li Li via Intel-wired-lan
> Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 2:05 AM
> To: Nguyen, Anthony L <anthony.l.nguyen@xxxxxxxxx>; Kitszel,
> Przemyslaw <przemyslaw.kitszel@xxxxxxxxx>; David S. Miller
> <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>; Eric
> Dumazet <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>; intel-wired-lan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; David
> Decotigny <decot@xxxxxxxxxx>; Singhai, Anjali
> <anjali.singhai@xxxxxxxxx>; Samudrala, Sridhar
> <sridhar.samudrala@xxxxxxxxx>; Brian Vazquez <brianvv@xxxxxxxxxx>;
> Li Li <boolli@xxxxxxxxxx>; Tantilov, Emil S
> <emil.s.tantilov@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Intel-wired-lan] [PATCH 5/5] idpf: skip stopping/opening
> vport if it is NULL during HW reset
> 
> 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 userspace restarts the network
> service, the vport associated with the netdev is NULL, and so a
> kernel panic would
> happen:
> 
> [ 1791.669339] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address:
> 0000000000000070 ...
> [ 1791.717130] RIP: 0010:idpf_vport_stop+0x16/0x1c0
> 
> 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 running "service network restart" in
> userspace.
> 
> With this patch applied, we see the following error but no kernel
> panics anymore:
> 
> [  181.409483] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth1: mtu not changed due to no
> vport innetdev RTNETLINK answers: Bad address ...
> [  181.913644] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth1: not stopping vport because it
> is NULL [  181.938675] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth1: mtu not changed due
> to no vport in netdev ...
> [  242.849499] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth1: not opening vport because it
> is NULL ...
> [  304.289364] idpf 0000:05:00.0 eth0: not opening vport because it
> is NULL
> 
> Signed-off-by: Li Li <boolli@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_lib.c | 12 ++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 12 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_lib.c
> b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_lib.c
> index 53b31989722a7..a9a556499262b 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_lib.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/idpf/idpf_lib.c
> @@ -1021,6 +1021,8 @@ static void idpf_vport_stop(struct idpf_vport
> *vport, bool rtnl)
>   */
>  static int idpf_stop(struct net_device *netdev)  {
> +	if (!netdev)
> +		return 0;
>  	struct idpf_netdev_priv *np = netdev_priv(netdev);
>  	struct idpf_vport *vport;
> 
> @@ -1029,9 +1031,14 @@ static int idpf_stop(struct net_device
> *netdev)
> 
>  	idpf_vport_ctrl_lock(netdev);
>  	vport = idpf_netdev_to_vport(netdev);
> +	if (!vport) {
> +		netdev_err(netdev, "not stopping vport because it is
> NULL");
Please don't forget to add trailing '\n'.

> +		goto unlock;
> +	}
> 
>  	idpf_vport_stop(vport, false);
> 
> +unlock:
>  	idpf_vport_ctrl_unlock(netdev);
> 
>  	return 0;
> @@ -2301,6 +2308,11 @@ static int idpf_open(struct net_device
> *netdev)
> 
>  	idpf_vport_ctrl_lock(netdev);
>  	vport = idpf_netdev_to_vport(netdev);
> +	if (!vport) {
> +		netdev_err(netdev, "not opening vport because it is
> NULL");
Please don't forget to add trailing '\n', here too.

> +		err = -EFAULT;
> +		goto unlock;
> +	}
> 
>  	err = idpf_set_real_num_queues(vport);
>  	if (err)
> --
> 2.52.0.351.gbe84eed79e-goog

Reviewed-by: Aleksandr Loktionov <aleksandr.loktionov@xxxxxxxxx>