Currently, rtnl_fdb_dump() assumes the family header is 'struct ifinfomsg', which is not always true. For example, 'struct ndmsg' is used by iproute2 as well (in the 'ip neigh' command).
The problem is, the function bails out early if nlmsg_parse() fails, which does occur for iproute2 usage of 'struct ndmsg' because the payload length is shorter than the family header alone (as 'struct ifinfomsg' is assumed). This breaks backward compatibility with userspace (different response) and is a regression due to commit 0ff50e83b512 ("net: rtnetlink: bail out from rtnl_fdb_dump() on parse error"). Some examples with iproute2 and netlink library for go [1]: 1) $ bridge fdb show 33:33:00:00:00:01 dev ens3 self permanent 01:00:5e:00:00:01 dev ens3 self permanent 33:33:ff:15:98:30 dev ens3 self permanent This one works, as it uses 'struct ifinfomsg'. fdb_show() @ iproute2/bridge/fdb.c """ .n.nlmsg_len = NLMSG_LENGTH(sizeof(struct ifinfomsg)), ... if (rtnl_dump_request(&rth, RTM_GETNEIGH, [...] """ 2) $ ip --family bridge neigh RTNETLINK answers: Invalid argument Dump terminated This one fails, as it uses 'struct ndmsg'. do_show_or_flush() @ iproute2/ip/ipneigh.c """ .n.nlmsg_type = RTM_GETNEIGH, .n.nlmsg_len = NLMSG_LENGTH(sizeof(struct ndmsg)), """ 3) $ ./neighlist < no output > This one fails, as it uses 'struct ndmsg'-based. neighList() @ netlink/neigh_linux.go """ req := h.newNetlinkRequest(unix.RTM_GETNEIGH, [...] msg := Ndmsg{ """ The actual breakage was introduced by commit 0ff50e83b512 ("net: rtnetlink: bail out from rtnl_fdb_dump() on parse error"), because nlmsg_parse() fails if the payload length (with the _actual_ family header) is less than the family header length alone (which is assumed, in parameter 'hdrlen'). This is true in the examples above with struct ndmsg, with size and payload length shorter than struct ifinfomsg. However, that commit just intends to fix something under the assumption the family header is indeed an 'struct ifinfomsg' - by preventing access to the payload as such (via 'ifm' pointer) if the payload length is not sufficient to actually contain it. The assumption was introduced by commit 5e6d24358799 ("bridge: netlink dump interface at par with brctl"), to support iproute2's 'bridge fdb' command (not 'ip neigh') which indeed uses 'struct ifinfomsg', thus is not broken. So, in order to unbreak shorter family headers as 'struct ndmsg' and still prevent access to invalid payload data, let's revert that former fix, and move ifinfomsg payload access (via ifm) into nlmsg_parse() successful case (i.e., the payload length is sufficient to be accessed as struct ifinfomsg) which also works/returns 0 even in case there are no attributes in payload. Same examples with this patch applied (or revert/before the original fix): $ bridge fdb show 33:33:00:00:00:01 dev ens3 self permanent 01:00:5e:00:00:01 dev ens3 self permanent 33:33:ff:15:98:30 dev ens3 self permanent $ ip --family bridge neigh dev ens3 lladdr 33:33:00:00:00:01 PERMANENT dev ens3 lladdr 01:00:5e:00:00:01 PERMANENT dev ens3 lladdr 33:33:ff:15:98:30 PERMANENT $ ./neighlist netlink.Neigh{LinkIndex:2, Family:7, State:128, Type:0, Flags:2, IP:net.IP(nil), HardwareAddr:net.HardwareAddr{0x33, 0x33, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x1}, LLIPAddr:net.IP(nil), Vlan:0, VNI:0} netlink.Neigh{LinkIndex:2, Family:7, State:128, Type:0, Flags:2, IP:net.IP(nil), HardwareAddr:net.HardwareAddr{0x1, 0x0, 0x5e, 0x0, 0x0, 0x1}, LLIPAddr:net.IP(nil), Vlan:0, VNI:0} netlink.Neigh{LinkIndex:2, Family:7, State:128, Type:0, Flags:2, IP:net.IP(nil), HardwareAddr:net.HardwareAddr{0x33, 0x33, 0xff, 0x15, 0x98, 0x30}, LLIPAddr:net.IP(nil), Vlan:0, VNI:0} Tested on mainline (ad0371482b1e) and net-next (a804e5e21875) on Sep. 28. References: [1] netlink library for go (test-case) https://github.com/vishvananda/netlink $ cat ~/go/src/neighlist/main.go package main import ("fmt"; "syscall"; "github.com/vishvananda/netlink") func main() { neighs, _ := netlink.NeighList(0, syscall.AF_BRIDGE) for _, neigh := range neighs { fmt.Printf("%#v\n", neigh) } } $ export GOPATH=~/go $ go get github.com/vishvananda/netlink $ go build neighlist $ ~/go/src/neighlist/neighlist Fixes: 0ff50e83b512 ("net: rtnetlink: bail out from rtnl_fdb_dump() on parse error") Fixes: 5e6d24358799 ("bridge: netlink dump interface at par with brctl") Reported-by: Aidan Obley <aob...@pivotal.io> Signed-off-by: Mauricio Faria de Oliveira <m...@canonical.com> --- P.S.: this may be 'net', but labeling as 'net-next' for possible relation to recent thread [PATCH RFC net-next 0/5] rtnetlink: Add support for rigid checking of data in dump request net/core/rtnetlink.c | 15 ++++++++------- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c index 60c928894a78..9695a27cc9b9 100644 --- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c +++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c @@ -3744,16 +3744,17 @@ static int rtnl_fdb_dump(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb) int err = 0; int fidx = 0; - err = nlmsg_parse(cb->nlh, sizeof(struct ifinfomsg), tb, - IFLA_MAX, ifla_policy, NULL); - if (err < 0) { - return -EINVAL; - } else if (err == 0) { + /* The family header may _not_ be struct ifinfomsg + * (e.g., struct ndmsg). Usage of the ifm pointer + * must check payload length (e.g., nlmsg_parse()). + */ + if (nlmsg_parse(cb->nlh, sizeof(struct ifinfomsg), tb, + IFLA_MAX, ifla_policy, NULL) == 0) { if (tb[IFLA_MASTER]) br_idx = nla_get_u32(tb[IFLA_MASTER]); - } - brport_idx = ifm->ifi_index; + brport_idx = ifm->ifi_index; + } if (br_idx) { br_dev = __dev_get_by_index(net, br_idx); -- 2.17.1