Re: [PATCH net-next v18 09/10] net: ethtool: Introduce ethtool command to list ports

[netdev-bot+sashiko@kernel.org]

Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 4 potential
issue(s) to consider.

Critical: 0 · High: 0 · Medium: 3 · Low: 1

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- [Medium] ETHTOOL_A_PORT_SUPPORTED_INTERFACES is sent as an ethtool
  bitset.
- [Medium] In the unfiltered PORT_GET dump, ctx->pos_portid is carried
  from one dumpit() call to the next without recording which device it…
- [Medium] port_dump_one_dev() reads dev->link_topo twice (the NULL
  check, then &dev->link_topo->ports) and walks the ports xarray with no…
- [Low] The ETHTOOL_MSG_PORT_GET genl_ops entry in net/ethtool/netlink.c
  uses ethnl_port_get_policy for both doit and dumpit.

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net: ethtool: Introduce ethtool command to list ports

This adds a new ETHTOOL_MSG_PORT_GET netlink command that exposes phy_port
information to userspace. MDI ports report their supported linkmodes, and
MII ports (empty SFP cages) report their supported PHY interface modes.
The command has a doit handler and its own dump implementation.

> diff --git a/net/ethtool/port.c b/net/ethtool/port.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000000..0d6150e5f66a2
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/net/ethtool/port.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,382 @@

[ ... ]

> +const struct nla_policy ethnl_port_get_policy[ETHTOOL_A_PORT_ID + 1] = {
> +	[ETHTOOL_A_PORT_HEADER] = NLA_POLICY_NESTED(ethnl_header_policy),
> +	[ETHTOOL_A_PORT_ID] = NLA_POLICY_MIN(NLA_U32, 1),
> +};

[Severity: Low]
The doit and the dumpit of ETHTOOL_MSG_PORT_GET both use this policy. A
dump request that includes ETHTOOL_A_PORT_ID therefore passes validation.

ethnl_port_dump_start() only reads tb[ETHTOOL_A_PORT_HEADER]. The ID is
silently ignored and the dump returns every port. The port-get dump
request in Documentation/netlink/specs/ethtool.yaml only lists header.

Should the dump use a header-only policy, or reject ETHTOOL_A_PORT_ID?
That would keep "ignore the ID" from becoming the de facto behaviour, and
filtering by ID could still be added later.

[ ... ]

> +static int port_fill_reply(struct sk_buff *skb,
> +			   const struct ethnl_req_info *req_info,
> +			   const struct ethnl_reply_data *reply_data)
> +{
> +	bool compact = req_info->flags & ETHTOOL_FLAG_COMPACT_BITSETS;

[ ... ]

> +	} else {
> +		ret = ethnl_put_bitset(skb, ETHTOOL_A_PORT_SUPPORTED_INTERFACES,
> +				       reply->interfaces, NULL,
> +				       PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_MAX,
> +				       phy_interface_names, compact);

[Severity: Medium]
ETHTOOL_A_PORT_SUPPORTED_INTERFACES is sent as an ethtool bitset indexed
by phy_interface_t. The compact flag comes directly from
ETHTOOL_FLAG_COMPACT_BITSETS in the request header, and port_reply_size()
uses the same encoding. In compact mode, userspace only gets raw bit
positions.

How is userspace expected to map those bits to names?

Every other ethtool bitset has a matching string set in info_template in
net/ethtool/strset.c (ETH_SS_LINK_MODES, ETH_SS_FEATURES,
ETH_SS_WOL_MODES, ETH_SS_TS_FLAGS, and so on). That lets userspace decode
compact replies with ETHTOOL_MSG_STRSET_GET.

I couldn't find an ETH_SS_* id in include/uapi/linux/ethtool.h, or a
strset entry, for phy_interface_names.

Without one, a compact client can either request again in verbose mode or
hard-code the phy_interface_t numbering. phy_interface_t is defined in
include/linux/phy.h and is not append-only. PSGMII sits between MOCA and
QSGMII, and 5GBASER sits between 2500BASEX and RXAUI. Inserting a new mode
later would shift what each bit means.

Could phy_interface_names be exported as a new string set? Or could this
bitset always be sent in verbose form? The commit message doesn't say how
userspace is meant to decode it.

A smaller point: ethnl_phy_names_populate() in net/ethtool/netlink.c fills
entry 0 from phy_modes(PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_NA), which returns "":

	for (i = 0; i < PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_MAX; i++) {
		name = phy_modes(i);
		strscpy(phy_interface_names[i], name, ETH_GSTRING_LEN);
	}

A verbose bitset with that bit set would then carry an empty name. Is that
intended?

[ ... ]

> +static int port_dump_one_dev(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
> +{
> +	struct port_dump_ctx *ctx = port_dump_ctx_get(cb);
> +	struct net_device *dev;
> +	struct phy_port *port;
> +	int ret;
> +
> +	dev = ctx->req_info->base.dev;
> +
> +	if (!dev->link_topo)
> +		return 0;
> +
> +	xa_for_each_start(&dev->link_topo->ports, ctx->pos_portid, port,
> +			  ctx->pos_portid) {

[Severity: Medium]
port_dump_one_dev() reads dev->link_topo twice and walks the ports xarray
with no RTNL, no netdev instance lock and no READ_ONCE(). RTNL is only
taken later, once per port, inside port_dump_one().

On the writer side, the topology is allocated lazily and published with a
plain store:

drivers/net/phy/phy_link_topology.c:netdev_alloc_phy_link_topology() {
	topo = kzalloc_obj(*topo);
	...
	xa_init_flags(&topo->ports, XA_FLAGS_ALLOC1);
	topo->next_port_index = 1;

	dev->link_topo = topo;
}

The comment in phy_link_topo_get_or_alloc() says this can run from
.ndo_open() or from the SFP state machine. At that point the netdev is
already registered and visible to dumps.

Can this race with an unprivileged PORT_GET dump?

CPU0 (ndo_open, RTNL held)
phy_attach_direct()
  phy_link_topo_add_phy()
    netdev_alloc_phy_link_topology()
      dev->link_topo = topo;

CPU1 (PORT_GET dump)
port_dump_all_dev()
  rcu_read_unlock();
  port_dump_one_dev()
    if (!dev->link_topo)
    xa_for_each_start(&dev->link_topo->ports, ...)

On weakly ordered architectures such as arm64 or powerpc, could CPU1 see
the new pointer before the xa_init_flags() stores are visible? xa_find()
would then follow a stale xa_head. Even if that never happens in practice,
this looks like a plain load racing a plain store, which KCSAN would
report.

ethnl_perphy_dump_one_dev() reads the topology the same way, but this
patch adds another lockless reader. Would it be better to take RTNL around
the whole per-device walk, or to pair smp_store_release() with
smp_load_acquire() on dev->link_topo?

> +		ctx->req_info->port_id = ctx->pos_portid;
> +
> +		ret = port_dump_one(skb, dev, cb);
> +		if (ret == -ENODEV)
> +			continue;
> +		if (ret)
> +			return ret;
> +	}
> +
> +	ctx->pos_portid = 0;
> +
> +	return 0;
> +}
> +
> +static int port_dump_all_dev(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
> +{

[ ... ]

> +	rcu_read_lock();
> +	for_each_netdev_dump(net, dev, ctx->pos_ifindex) {
> +		netdev_hold(dev, &dev_tracker, GFP_ATOMIC);
> +		rcu_read_unlock();
> +
> +		ctx->req_info->base.dev = dev;
> +		ret = port_dump_one_dev(skb, cb);
> +
> +		rcu_read_lock();
> +		netdev_put(dev, &dev_tracker);
> +		ctx->req_info->base.dev = NULL;
> +
> +		if (ret < 0 && ret != -EOPNOTSUPP) {
> +			if (likely(skb->len))
> +				ret = skb->len;
> +			break;
> +		}

[Severity: Medium]
Suppose port_dump_one() returns -EMSGSIZE partway through a device's
ports. port_dump_one_dev() then returns with ctx->pos_portid still set to
that port's ID, and this loop breaks without advancing ctx->pos_ifindex.
pos_portid only goes back to 0 once every port on a device has been
dumped.

On the next dumpit() call, for_each_netdev_dump() resumes with xa_find()
from pos_ifindex. If that device was unregistered in between, xa_find()
returns the next device with a higher ifindex. port_dump_one_dev() then
starts walking that device's ports from the stale pos_portid:

	xa_for_each_start(&dev->link_topo->ports, ctx->pos_portid, port,
			  ctx->pos_portid) {

Would ports with lower IDs on that unrelated device be silently dropped
from the dump, with no NLM_F_DUMP_INTR to tell userspace?

ethnl_perphy_dump_all_dev() has the same pattern with pos_phyindex, but
this code is new. Could the dump context record which ifindex pos_portid
belongs to, and reset pos_portid when the device changes?

-- 
Sashiko AI review · https://netdev-ai.bots.linux.dev/sashiko/#/patchset/20260927133619.955236-1-maxime.chevallier%40bootlin.com