Re: [PATCH net] ionic: fix persistent MAC address override on PF

[Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>]

On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 07:08:06PM +0200, mheib@redhat.com wrote:
> From: Mohammad Heib <mheib@redhat.com>
> 
> The use of IONIC_CMD_LIF_SETATTR in the MAC address update path causes
> the ionic firmware to update the LIF's identity in its persistent state.
> Since the firmware state is maintained across host warm boots and driver
> reloads, any MAC change on the Physical Function (PF) becomes "sticky.
> 
> This is problematic because it causes ethtool -P to report the
> user-configured MAC as the permanent factory address, which breaks
> system management tools that rely on a stable hardware identity.
> 
> While Virtual Functions (VFs) need this hardware-level programming to
> properly handle MAC assignments in guest environments, the PF should
> maintain standard transient behavior. This patch gates the
> ionic_program_mac call using is_virtfn so that PF MAC changes remain
> local to the netdev filters and do not overwrite the firmware's
> permanent identity block.
> 
> Fixes: 19058be7c48c ("ionic: VF initial random MAC address if no assigned mac")
> Signed-off-by: Mohammad Heib <mheib@redhat.com>

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