Re: [PATCH net] Revert "net/smc: Introduce TCP ULP support"

Simon Horman
2026-01-29T16:55:06Z

On Wed, Jan 28, 2026 at 01:54:52PM +0800, D. Wythe wrote:
> This reverts commit d7cd421da9da2cc7b4d25b8537f66db5c8331c40.
>
> As reported by Al Viro, the TCP ULP support for SMC is fundamentally
> broken. The implementation attempts to convert an active TCP socket
> into an SMC socket by modifying the underlying `struct file`, dentry,
> and inode in-place, which violates core VFS invariants that assume
> these structures are immutable for an open file, creating a risk of
> use after free errors and general system instability.
>
> Given the severity of this design flaw and the fact that cleaner
> alternatives (e.g., LD_PRELOAD, BPF) exist for legacy application
> transparency, the correct course of action is to remove this feature
> entirely.
>
> Fixes: d7cd421da9da ("net/smc: Introduce TCP ULP support")
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/Yus1SycZxcd+wHwz@ZenIV/
> Reported-by: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
> Signed-off-by: D. Wythe <alibuda@linux.alibaba.com>
> Reviewed-by: Tony Lu <tonylu@linux.alibaba.com>
> Reviewed-by: Dust Li <dust.li@linux.alibaba.com>

Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>