[PATCH net-next v5] net: ipv6: seg6: report lwtunnel setup errors via extack

From: Gabriel Goller

Date: Fri Oct 09 2026 - 11:23:26 EST


seg6_build_state() rejected invalid configurations with a generic -EINVAL,
so "ip route add ... encap seg6 ..." sometimes reported "Invalid argument".

Add extack messages to the checks that lacked one, and use
NL_REQ_ATTR_CHECK() for the missing SRH attribute so that userspace can
tell which attribute is missing. The checks themselves and their return
values are unchanged.

Signed-off-by: Gabriel Goller <g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---

v5 (https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261005140637.644840-1-g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx/):
* use NL_REQ_ATTR_CHECK() for the missing SRH attribute (Jakub)
* reword the inline mode message to "inline mode requires the IPv6
address family", since it also applies to IPv4 nexthop objects
(Andrea)
* consistently call the header "IPv6 Segment Routing Header" (RFC 8754)
in all messages (Andrea)
* include the offending mode value in the invalid mode message
* reword the commit message to match

v4 (https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260923120228.172643-1-g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx/):
* use NL_SET_ERR_MSG when the SRH attr is missing
* use NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR when we have an invalid attr

v3 (https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260922090851.38978-1-g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx/):
* format fix
* use NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR

v2 (https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260918153544.1178884-1-g.goller@xxxxxxxxxxx/):
* dropped tests

net/ipv6/seg6_iptunnel.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv6/seg6_iptunnel.c b/net/ipv6/seg6_iptunnel.c
index 69a6ef5c5317..0d39a38a5dd2 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/seg6_iptunnel.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/seg6_iptunnel.c
@@ -762,8 +762,11 @@ static int seg6_build_state(struct net *net, struct nlattr *nla,
struct seg6_lwt *slwt;
int err;

- if (family != AF_INET && family != AF_INET6)
+ if (family != AF_INET && family != AF_INET6) {
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack,
+ "unsupported address family for SRv6 encapsulation");
return -EINVAL;
+ }

err = nla_parse_nested_deprecated(tb, SEG6_IPTUNNEL_MAX, nla,
seg6_iptunnel_policy, extack);
@@ -771,7 +774,7 @@ static int seg6_build_state(struct net *net, struct nlattr *nla,
if (err < 0)
return err;

- if (!tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH])
+ if (NL_REQ_ATTR_CHECK(extack, nla, tb, SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH))
return -EINVAL;

tuninfo = nla_data(tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH]);
@@ -782,13 +785,19 @@ static int seg6_build_state(struct net *net, struct nlattr *nla,
*/
min_size = sizeof(*tuninfo) + sizeof(struct ipv6_sr_hdr) +
sizeof(struct in6_addr);
- if (tuninfo_len < min_size)
+ if (tuninfo_len < min_size) {
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH],
+ "truncated IPv6 Segment Routing Header attribute");
return -EINVAL;
+ }

switch (tuninfo->mode) {
case SEG6_IPTUN_MODE_INLINE:
- if (family != AF_INET6)
+ if (family != AF_INET6) {
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH],
+ "inline mode requires the IPv6 address family");
return -EINVAL;
+ }

if (tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRC]) {
NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "incompatible mode for tunsrc");
@@ -804,12 +813,19 @@ static int seg6_build_state(struct net *net, struct nlattr *nla,
case SEG6_IPTUN_MODE_L2ENCAP_RED:
break;
default:
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR_FMT(extack, tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH],
+ "invalid SRv6 encapsulation mode %d",
+ tuninfo->mode);
return -EINVAL;
}

/* verify that SRH is consistent */
- if (!seg6_validate_srh(tuninfo->srh, tuninfo_len - sizeof(*tuninfo), false))
+ if (!seg6_validate_srh(tuninfo->srh, tuninfo_len - sizeof(*tuninfo),
+ false)) {
+ NL_SET_ERR_MSG_ATTR(extack, tb[SEG6_IPTUNNEL_SRH],
+ "invalid IPv6 Segment Routing Header");
return -EINVAL;
+ }

newts = lwtunnel_state_alloc(tuninfo_len + sizeof(*slwt));
if (!newts)
--
2.47.3