In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: Fix soft lockups in fib6selectpath under high next hop churn Soft lockups have been observed on a cluster of Linux-based edge routers located in a highly dynamic environment. Using the bird
service, these routers continuously update BGP-advertised routes due to frequently changing nexthop destinations, while also managing significant IPv6 traffic. The lockups occur during the traversal of the multipath circular linked-list in the fib6_select_path
function, particularly while iterating through the siblings in the list. The issue typically arises when the nodes of the linked list are unexpectedly deleted concurrently on a different core—indicated by their 'next' and 'previous' elements pointing back to the node itself and their reference count dropping to zero. This results in an infinite loop, leading to a soft lockup that triggers a system panic via the watchdog timer. Apply RCU primitives in the problematic code sections to resolve the issue. Where necessary, update the references to fib6siblings to annotate or use the RCU APIs. Include a test script that reproduces the issue. The script periodically updates the routing table while generating a heavy load of outgoing IPv6 traffic through multiple iperf3 clients. It consistently induces infinite soft lockups within a couple of minutes. Kernel log: 0 [ffffbd13003e8d30] machinekexec at ffffffff8ceaf3eb 1 [ffffbd13003e8d90] _crashkexec at ffffffff8d0120e3 2 [ffffbd13003e8e58] panic at ffffffff8cef65d4 3 [ffffbd13003e8ed8] watchdogtimerfn at ffffffff8d05cb03 4 [ffffbd13003e8f08] _hrtimerrunqueues at ffffffff8cfec62f 5 [ffffbd13003e8f70] hrtimerinterrupt at ffffffff8cfed756 6 [ffffbd13003e8fd0] _sysvecapictimerinterrupt at ffffffff8cea01af 7 [ffffbd13003e8ff0] sysvecapictimerinterrupt at ffffffff8df1b83d -- <IRQ stack> -- 8 [ffffbd13003d3708] asmsysvecapictimerinterrupt at ffffffff8e000ecb [exception RIP: fib6selectpath+299] RIP: ffffffff8ddafe7b RSP: ffffbd13003d37b8 RFLAGS: 00000287 RAX: ffff975850b43600 RBX: ffff975850b40200 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 000000003fffffff RSI: 0000000051d383e4 RDI: ffff975850b43618 RBP: ffffbd13003d3800 R8: 0000000000000000 R9: ffff975850b40200 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffbd13003d3830 R13: ffff975850b436a8 R14: ffff975850b43600 R15: 0000000000000007 ORIGRAX: ffffffffffffffff CS: 0010 SS: 0018 9 [ffffbd13003d3808] ip6polroute at ffffffff8ddb030c 10 [ffffbd13003d3888] ip6polrouteinput at ffffffff8ddb068c 11 [ffffbd13003d3898] fib6rulelookup at ffffffff8ddf02b5 12 [ffffbd13003d3928] ip6routeinput at ffffffff8ddb0f47 13 [ffffbd13003d3a18] ip6rcvfinishcore.constprop.0 at ffffffff8dd950d0 14 [ffffbd13003d3a30] ip6listrcvfinish.constprop.0 at ffffffff8dd96274 15 [ffffbd13003d3a98] ip6sublistrcv at ffffffff8dd96474 16 [ffffbd13003d3af8] ipv6listrcv at ffffffff8dd96615 17 [ffffbd13003d3b60] _netifreceiveskblistcore at ffffffff8dc16fec 18 [ffffbd13003d3be0] netifreceiveskblistinternal at ffffffff8dc176b3 19 [ffffbd13003d3c50] napigroreceive at ffffffff8dc565b9 20 [ffffbd13003d3c80] icereceiveskb at ffffffffc087e4f5 [ice] 21 [ffffbd13003d3c90] icecleanrxirq at ffffffffc0881b80 [ice] 22 [ffffbd13003d3d20] icenapipoll at ffffffffc088232f [ice] 23 [ffffbd13003d3d80] _napipoll at ffffffff8dc18000 24 [ffffbd13003d3db8] netrxaction at ffffffff8dc18581 25 [ffffbd13003d3e40] _dosoftirq at ffffffff8df352e9 26 [ffffbd13003d3eb0] runksoftirqd at ffffffff8ceffe47 27 [ffffbd13003d3ec0] smpbootthreadfn at ffffffff8cf36a30 28 [ffffbd13003d3ee8] kthread at ffffffff8cf2b39f 29 [ffffbd13003d3f28] retfromfork at ffffffff8ce5fa64 30 [ffffbd13003d3f50] retfromfork_asm at ffffffff8ce03cbb