[PATCH net] netdevsim: fix panic when NETIF_F_LOOPBACK is set on a VF port
From: Jiayuan Chen
Date: Mon Aug 31 2026 - 00:24:32 EST
A netdevsim VF port cannot process incoming data. It never runs
nsim_queue_init(), so ns->rq is NULL, and nsim_vf_netdev_ops has no
->ndo_open, so its NAPI is never set up either.
Since commit 358008f41d9b ("netdevsim: add loopback support") an outgoing
netdevsim can also be the incoming device. nsim_setup() is shared by PF
and VF ports and offers NETIF_F_LOOPBACK to both, so the feature can be
turned on for a VF; nsim_start_xmit() then takes ns as peer_ns and
dereferences peer_ns->rq[], which panics.
Disable NETIF_F_LOOPBACK on VF ports.
Reproduce in qemu:
modprobe netdevsim
echo "90 1" > /sys/bus/netdevsim/new_device
echo 2 > /sys/bus/netdevsim/devices/netdevsim90/sriov_numvfs
devlink dev eswitch set netdevsim/netdevsim90 mode switchdev
ethtool -K eth2 loopback on # eth2 is the vfnum 0 port
ip link set eth2 up
Panic:
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 141 Comm: kworker/0:3 Not tainted 7.2.0+ #338 PREEMPT
Workqueue: mld mld_ifc_work
RIP: 0010:nsim_start_xmit (drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c:159)
dev_hard_start_xmit ( net/core/dev.c:3953)
sch_direct_xmit (net/sched/sch_generic.c:372)
__dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4262 net/core/dev.c:4884)
neigh_resolve_output (net/core/neighbour.c:1616)
ip6_finish_output2 (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:138)
ip6_finish_output (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:221)
ip6_output (net/ipv6/ip6_output.c:248)
......
Fixes: 358008f41d9b ("netdevsim: add loopback support")
Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c | 8 ++++++++
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
diff --git a/drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c b/drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c
index b4a99f3ceac6..7bb72aea90a0 100644
--- a/drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/netdevsim/netdev.c
@@ -1113,6 +1113,14 @@ static int nsim_init_netdevsim_vf(struct netdevsim *ns)
int err;
ns->netdev->netdev_ops = &nsim_vf_netdev_ops;
+
+ /* nsim_setup() offers NETIF_F_LOOPBACK to every port, but a VF port
+ * has neither queues nor NAPI, and looping a frame back means
+ * receiving it.
+ */
+ ns->netdev->hw_features &= ~NETIF_F_LOOPBACK;
+ ns->netdev->features &= ~NETIF_F_LOOPBACK;
+
rtnl_lock();
err = register_netdevice(ns->netdev);
rtnl_unlock();
--
2.43.0