From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mta1.migadu.com (out-152.mta1.migadu.com [95.215.58.152]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 61F2232ED54 for ; Sat, 29 Aug 2026 23:25:50 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=95.215.58.152 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1788045954; cv=none; b=jYqU6ffEWayZk1vIkFDWytMdSCTmQvwIUacwJNtjKer7dwtuK/NflIocpslzp6Lv6HSdGmLQU6GBd88j2zSXPeKiYMBGQzNadqntCPw1RRXbfwMAaN88nElrMFExDj2JWSX8RDEQnc8N7fvU3YwxlFu5upxOlfnJ6H1di0Y6oVE= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1788045954; c=relaxed/simple; bh=vYgvfqVKL+gvqjlecyfRg1/rneQasRvsOFWbVIPsXsQ=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References: MIME-Version; b=Ui6/KGEdjbmFR8Gx/BKgYjej6/9pO1BDwevcBKiy9CYRm1QbeVsXIrdnX5w+j8BnwIWiuDDwM8JDtUEc41nX/2d78dwx5db3IE86cWQ/AoiOtDfyedpVBxjo+YiPr5K8G1vHXKJW2R30mvlm/eaAVORA/LSuDB+kzh043axbhNs= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=quarantine dis=none) header.from=justthetip.ca; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=justthetip.ca; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=justthetip.ca header.i=@justthetip.ca header.b=w0g6S0C/; arc=none smtp.client-ip=95.215.58.152 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=quarantine dis=none) header.from=justthetip.ca Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=justthetip.ca Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=justthetip.ca header.i=@justthetip.ca header.b="w0g6S0C/" X-Envelope-To: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org DKIM-Signature: a=rsa-sha256; bh=vYgvfqVKL+gvqjlecyfRg1/rneQasRvsOFWbVIPsXsQ=; c=simple/simple; d=justthetip.ca; h=from:to:subject:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type; s=key1; t=1788045949; v=1; x=1788650749; b=w0g6S0C//IYLSKgQI6EWkxvY1SbAV1HYKQe9OceKQgs1UMvopIyiRrdbOqfvZRtN9f0B+0GJ wt3aEL6NroRsNJqfJ7wTOTp3lCoBOSaEq4fTiyIktS+UnC6GMvqjiIcjaduX+Wm2pqkG1ncJkJ4 OCZPvSacF7C29Rfjnsq6f1M/89YVRxxTFKW32V4OA1gI2jKZAwLvmVt9QminE1BnHwibwgOB5i5 LXGYaHjuslZNxoOE9nlz9BXh3h/RHXxNUcmXNsbgKu+iUuCKCQUIH0ctSMNzbNX6gjqeMzKJWc5 zxfvPmj28GmVLY8dTNl6BO7SS2pko3/OO4mdflQVmFNwg== X-Envelope-To: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org Received: by smtp.migadu.com with ESMTPS id 22618b5f24637d71; Sat, 29 Aug 2026 23:25:39 +0000 X-Mizu-Trace-ID: 22618b5f24637d71 X-Migadu-Flow: FLOW_OUT From: Devin Wittmayer To: Thomas Hilber Cc: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, ath9k-devel@qca.qualcomm.com, linux-mediatek@lists.infradead.org Subject: Re: AP drops STA data frames for ~130-170ms after 4-way handshake Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2026 16:25:32 -0700 Message-ID: <20260829232532.29622-1-lucid_duck@justthetip.ca> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.55.0 In-Reply-To: <20260827074442.826644@enxio.de> References: <20260827074442.826644@enxio.de> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On Thu, 2026-08-27 at 07:44 +0200, Thomas Hilber wrote: > That suggests the pairwise key becomes usable for RX some time after > hostapd authorizes the controlled port, rather than atomically with it. I think that's right, and I don't think SoftMAC is where it splits. I ran your test on two more access points. The first had no radio at all, just software. Median 2.8 ms over 91 associations, not one above 100. That is your FullMAC column, produced by a SoftMAC access point. The second was real silicon: a newer MediaTek part on its own driver, but the same family you already reported, so corroboration rather than a fresh witness. 35 of 40 associations 5 to 16 ms 5 of 40 116, 128, 138, 162, 181 ms Your range, just not every time. About one in eight, where you were seeing nearly all of them. What separates the fast case from the slow ones isn't SoftMAC, it's where decryption happens. In software the key works the instant it is set. Everywhere else it has to be shipped out to a chip first. The port opens on schedule. It's the key that is still in transit. Your Atheros access point will skip hardware encryption if you ask it to, with the nohwcrypt parameter. If the gap goes with it, that is your answer for the price of a reload. The MediaTek one has no such switch. The reorder buffer is out as well. Anything dropped later, at decryption or at the port check, has already been through it and moved the window along, so no hole opens and the timer never starts. Mine differs from yours in three ways: a MediaTek client instead of your ESP32, 5 GHz wide instead of 2.4 narrow, and my clock starts at the client's end of the handshake rather than the access point's. Thanks for the pair that were the same box, same kernel, same hostapd, differing only in radio and driver. That is what made this worth chasing. Devin