[PATCH net-next 2/3] macvlan: Do not transfer operational state when protodown is enabled

Ido Schimmel
2026-04-29T12:47:16Z

The protodown functionality allows user space to keep a macvlan down by
turning off its carrier:

# ip link add name dummy1 up type dummy
# ip link add name macvlan1 up link dummy1 type macvlan mode bridge
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 DOWN 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>

Different applications can set different protodown reasons, which
prevents an application from bringing up a macvlan as long as others
want it down:

# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 1 on
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 2 on
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
Error: Cannot clear protodown, active reasons.
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 2 off
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
Error: Cannot clear protodown, active reasons.
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown_reason 1 off
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 UP 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Unfortunately, this mechanism is not very useful when the macvlan can be
brought up by toggling the carrier of its lower device:

# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 DOWN 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
# ip link set dev dummy1 carrier off
# ip link set dev dummy1 carrier on
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 UP 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Obviously, this is not the intended behavior and it is unlikely to be
relied on by anyone. In fact, it is a problem for applications like FRR
that use protodown with macvlan on top of a bridge as part of Virtual
Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).

Solve this by not transferring the operational state from the lower
device to the macvlan if protodown is enabled on the macvlan. Note that
READ_ONCE() is not needed as RTNL is held. Also note that vxlan (the
other driver that supports protodown) does not suffer from this problem.

Output with the patch:

# ip link add name dummy1 up type dummy
# ip link add name macvlan1 up link dummy1 type macvlan mode bridge
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown on
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 DOWN 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
# ip link set dev dummy1 carrier off
# ip link set dev dummy1 carrier on
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 DOWN 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP>
# ip link set dev macvlan1 protodown off
$ ip -br link show dev macvlan1
macvlan1@dummy1 UP 0a:5c:a3:05:c7:86 <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP>

Reviewed-by: Petr Machata <petrm@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
---
drivers/net/macvlan.c | 5 ++++-
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
index 61effa295c49..50c0bc8a38db 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
@@ -1822,9 +1822,12 @@ static int macvlan_device_event(struct notifier_block *unused,
case NETDEV_UP:
case NETDEV_DOWN:
case NETDEV_CHANGE:
- list_for_each_entry(vlan, &port->vlans, list)
+ list_for_each_entry(vlan, &port->vlans, list) {
+ if (vlan->dev->proto_down)
+ continue;
netif_stacked_transfer_operstate(vlan->lowerdev,
vlan->dev);
+ }
break;
case NETDEV_FEAT_CHANGE:
list_for_each_entry(vlan, &port->vlans, list) {
--
2.53.0