[PATCH net 6/6] net: enetc: add ratelimiting to VF mailbox error messages
From: Wei Fang
Date: Wed May 13 2026 - 07:00:47 EST
Sashiko reported that a buggy or malicious guest VM can flood the host
kernel log by repeatedly sending VF-to-PF messages at a high rate,
degrading host performance and hiding important system logs [1].
Fix by replacing dev_err()/dev_warn() with dev_err_ratelimited() and
dev_warn_ratelimited(), limiting output to the default kernel ratelimit.
This ensures errors are still logged for debugging while preventing log
flooding attacks.
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260511080805.2052495-1-wei.fang%40nxp.com #1
Fixes: beb74ac878c8 ("enetc: Add vf to pf messaging support")
Signed-off-by: Wei Fang <wei.fang@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf.c | 10 ++++++----
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf.c
index 052cab48df51..73a899b00308 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/enetc/enetc_pf.c
@@ -505,8 +505,9 @@ static u16 enetc_msg_pf_set_vf_primary_mac_addr(struct enetc_pf *pf,
mutex_lock(&vf_state->lock);
if (vf_state->flags & ENETC_VF_FLAG_PF_SET_MAC)
- dev_warn(dev, "Attempt to override PF set mac addr for VF%d\n",
- vf_id);
+ dev_warn_ratelimited(dev,
+ "VF%d attempted to override PF set MAC\n",
+ vf_id);
else
enetc_pf_set_primary_mac_addr(&pf->si->hw, vf_id + 1, addr);
@@ -531,8 +532,9 @@ void enetc_msg_handle_rxmsg(struct enetc_pf *pf, int vf_id, u16 *status)
*status = enetc_msg_pf_set_vf_primary_mac_addr(pf, vf_id);
break;
default:
- dev_err(dev, "command not supported (cmd_type: 0x%x)\n",
- cmd_type);
+ dev_err_ratelimited(dev,
+ "command not supported (cmd_type: 0x%x)\n",
+ cmd_type);
}
}
--
2.34.1