Re: [PATCH iwl-net 1/3] ice: avoid RTNL deadlock when notifying the RDMA auxiliary driver

From: Petr Oros

Date: Thu Oct 22 2026 - 06:41:59 EST




On 10/21/26 1:20 PM, Loktionov, Aleksandr wrote:


-----Original Message-----
From: Petr Oros <poros@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2026 8:53 AM
To: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Oros, Petr <poros@xxxxxxxxxx>; Nguyen, Anthony L
<anthony.l.nguyen@xxxxxxxxx>; Kitszel, Przemyslaw
<przemyslaw.kitszel@xxxxxxxxx>; Andrew Lunn <andrew+netdev@xxxxxxx>;
David S . Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Eric Dumazet
<edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>; Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>; Paolo Abeni
<pabeni@xxxxxxxxxx>; Ertman, David M <david.m.ertman@xxxxxxxxx>; Shiraz
Saleem <shiraz.saleem@xxxxxxxxx>; Leon Romanovsky <leon@xxxxxxxxxx>;
Maziarz, Kamil <kamil.maziarz@xxxxxxxxx>; Rafal Rogalski
<rafalx.rogalski@xxxxxxxxx>; Loktionov, Aleksandr
<aleksandr.loktionov@xxxxxxxxx>; Schmidt, Michal <mschmidt@xxxxxxxxxx>;
linux-rdma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; intel-wired-lan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; linux-
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Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>; Mateusz Palczewski
<mateusz.palczewski@xxxxxxxxx>; linux-rt-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PATCH iwl-net 1/3] ice: avoid RTNL deadlock when notifying the
RDMA auxiliary driver

ice_send_event_to_aux() blocks on the auxiliary device lock, and the
dcbnl callers reach it with the RTNL lock held. The RDMA auxiliary probe
takes the two in the opposite order, because __driver_attach() holds the
auxiliary device lock across ib_register_device(), which needs the RTNL
lock:

systemd-udevd state:D
really_probe <- holds device_lock(&adev->dev)
icrdma_probe
irdma_ib_register_device
ib_register_device
setup_device
irdma_roce_port_immutable
ib_query_port
irdma_query_port
ib_get_eth_speed <- blocks on rtnl_lock()

lldpad state:D
rtnetlink_rcv_msg <- holds rtnl_lock()
dcb_doit
dcbnl_ieee_set
ice_dcbnl_setets
ice_pf_dcb_cfg
ice_send_event_to_aux <- blocks on device_lock(&adev->dev)

Everything else that needs the RTNL lock piles up behind lldpad and the
boot never completes. The probe side cannot be changed, so use
device_trylock() and report whether the event reached the driver.

IIDC_RDMA_EVENT_BEFORE_TC_CHANGE has to arrive before the traffic
classes change, so ice_pf_dcb_cfg() refuses the request with -EBUSY
rather than run it behind the RDMA driver's back. The critical error and
MTU change events are sent from the service task, which consumes their
pending bits before sending, so those are re-armed instead.
AFTER_TC_CHANGE keeps its fire and forget behaviour, it can be neither
refused, the hardware has already changed, nor deferred, every lock that
would serialise a deferred delivery against the dcbnl callers forms
another cycle.

Fixes: 348048e724a0 ("ice: Implement iidc operations")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Petr Oros <poros@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_dcb_lib.c | 9 ++++++++-
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc.c | 20 ++++++++++++++++----
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc_int.h | 2 +-
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_main.c | 16 ++++++++++++----
4 files changed, 37 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_dcb_lib.c
b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_dcb_lib.c
index 0bc6dd37568792..2022b46c990cb2 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_dcb_lib.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_dcb_lib.c
@@ -355,8 +355,10 @@ int ice_pf_dcb_cfg(struct ice_pf *pf, struct
ice_dcbx_cfg *new_cfg, bool locked)
struct iidc_rdma_event *event;
int ret = ICE_DCB_NO_HW_CHG;
struct ice_vsi *pf_vsi;
+ bool dcb_ena;

curr_cfg = &pf->hw.port_info->qos_cfg.local_dcbx_cfg;
+ dcb_ena = test_bit(ICE_FLAG_DCB_ENA, pf->flags);

/* FW does not care if change happened */
if (!pf->hw.port_info->qos_cfg.is_sw_lldp)
@@ -406,7 +408,12 @@ int ice_pf_dcb_cfg(struct ice_pf *pf, struct
ice_dcbx_cfg *new_cfg, bool locked)
}

set_bit(IIDC_RDMA_EVENT_BEFORE_TC_CHANGE, event->type);
- ice_send_event_to_aux(pf, event);
+ if (!ice_send_event_to_aux(pf, event)) {
+ assign_bit(ICE_FLAG_DCB_ENA, pf->flags, dcb_ena);
+ kfree(event);
+ ret = -EBUSY;
-EBUSY doesn't match to any ICE_DCB_* constant, are you sure you tested this case?
It looks like it will be processed like ICE_DCB_NO_HW_CHG i.e. no change needed, isn't it?

The negative return takes the same path as the existing -EBUSY for the
custom Tx scheduler. ice_dcbnl_setets() and setpfc() pass it to dcbnl
unchanged, only ICE_DCB_NO_HW_CHG is mapped to zero. setapp() and
cee_set_all() mask every error, that is pre-existing and also hides
-ENOMEM and the AQ errors. I have noted this in the v2 message.



+ goto free_cfg;
+ }
kfree(event);

/* avoid race conditions by holding the lock while disabling and
diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc.c
b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc.c
index 102d63c3018b1f..7fd35ce966ea65 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_idc.c
@@ -34,30 +34,42 @@ ice_get_auxiliary_drv(struct iidc_rdma_core_dev_info
*cdev)
* ice_send_event_to_aux - send event to RDMA AUX driver
* @pf: pointer to PF struct
* @event: event struct

...

kfree(event);
}
}
--
2.56.0