Linux kernel source tree
Go to file
Jakub Kicinski cd1c188db1 vlan: defer real device state propagation to netdev_work
vlan_device_event() generates nested UP/DOWN, MTU and feature
change events. It executes an event for the VLAN device directly
from the notifier - while the locks of the lower device are held.

This causes deadlocks, for example:

  bond    (3) bond_update_speed_duplex(vlan)
    |           ^                v
  vlan    (2) UP(vlan)    (4) vlan_ethtool_get_link_ksettings()
    |           ^                v
  dummy   (1) UP(dummy)   (5) __ethtool_get_link_ksettings()

The dummy device is ops locked, vlan creates a nested event (2),
then bond wants to ask vlan for link state (3). bond uses the
"I'm already holding the instance lock" flavor of API. But in
this case the lock held refers to vlan itself. We hit vlan's
link settings trampoline (4) and call __ethtool_get_link_ksettings()
which tries to lock dummy. Deadlock. There's no clean way for us
to tell the vlan_ethtool_get_link_ksettings() that the caller
is already in lower device's critical section.

Defer the propagation to the per-netdev work facility instead:
the notifier only schedules netdev_work_sched(vlandev, VLAN_WORK_*),
and ndo_work (vlan_dev_work) applies the change later. Hopefully
nobody expects the VLAN state changes to be instantaneous.

If someone does expect the changes to be instantaneous we will
have to do the same thing Stan did for rx_mode and "strategically"
place sync calls, to make sure such delayed works are executed
after we drop the ops lock but before we drop rtnl_lock.

Stan suggests that if we need that down the line we may
consider reshaping the mechanism into "async notifications".
AFAICT only vlan does this sort of netdev open chaining,
so as a first try I think that sticking the complexity into
the vlan code makes sense.

One corner case is that we need to cancel the event if user
explicitly changes the state before work could run. Consider
the following operations with vlan0 on top of dummy0:

  ip link set dev dummy0 up    # queues work to up vlan0
  ip link set dev vlan0 down   # user explicitly downs the vlan
  ndo_work                     # acts on the stale event

Reported-by: syzbot+09da62a8b78959ceb8bb@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Reported-by: syzbot+cb67c392b0b8f0fd0fc1@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Reported-by: syzbot+9bb8bd77f3966641f298@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Fixes: 9f275c2e90 ("net: ethtool: make sure __ethtool_get_link_ksettings() is ops-locked")
Reviewed-by: Kuniyuki Iwashima <kuniyu@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Nicolai Buchwitz <nb@tipi-net.de>
Acked-by: Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@fomichev.me>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260624182018.2445732-4-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
2026-06-25 10:18:40 -07:00
arch Networking changes for 7.2. 2026-06-17 08:17:00 +01:00
block - small cleanups in dm-vdo, dm-raid, dm-cache, dm-zoned-metadata 2026-06-16 13:20:54 +05:30
certs
crypto Networking changes for 7.2. 2026-06-17 08:17:00 +01:00
Documentation vlan: defer real device state propagation to netdev_work 2026-06-25 10:18:40 -07:00
drivers net: ethtool: keep rtnl_lock for ops using ethtool_op_get_link() 2026-06-25 10:18:34 -07:00
fs afs: Fix uncancelled rxrpc OOB message handler 2026-06-25 10:07:18 -07:00
include net: add the driver-facing netdev_work scheduling API 2026-06-25 10:18:40 -07:00
init Bootconfig updates for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:29:24 +05:30
io_uring Networking changes for 7.2. 2026-06-17 08:17:00 +01:00
ipc kernel-7.2-rc1.misc 2026-06-15 03:05:50 +05:30
kernel tracing latency updates for 7.2: 2026-06-16 17:38:19 +05:30
lib Bootconfig updates for v7.2 2026-06-16 17:29:24 +05:30
LICENSES
mm for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
net vlan: defer real device state propagation to netdev_work 2026-06-25 10:18:40 -07:00
rust for-7.2/block-20260615 2026-06-16 13:02:47 +05:30
samples Driver core changes for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-15 12:41:17 +05:30
scripts linux_kselftest-kunit-7.2-rc1 2026-06-16 16:33:57 +05:30
security Networking changes for 7.2. 2026-06-17 08:17:00 +01:00
sound gpio updates for v7.2-rc1 2026-06-16 07:30:52 +05:30
tools selftests: tls: size splice_short pipe by page size 2026-06-25 09:01:58 -07:00
usr
virt vfs-7.2-rc1.misc 2026-06-15 03:59:45 +05:30
.clang-format
.clippy.toml
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig
.get_maintainer.ignore
.gitattributes
.gitignore Rust changes for v7.2 2026-06-15 09:25:48 +05:30
.mailmap net: ethernet: qualcomm: ppe: Demote from supported and fix maintainer addresses 2026-06-25 08:46:29 -07:00
.pylintrc
.rustfmt.toml
COPYING
CREDITS fbdev fixes & cleanups for 7.2-rc1: 2026-06-16 08:28:41 +05:30
Kbuild
Kconfig
MAINTAINERS net: ethernet: qualcomm: ppe: Demote from supported and fix maintainer addresses 2026-06-25 08:46:29 -07:00
Makefile slab changes for 7.2 2026-06-16 08:44:43 +05:30
README

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst