[PATCH AUTOSEL 6.18-5.15] netfilter: replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY

[PATCH AUTOSEL 6.18-5.15] netfilter: replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY

[Sasha Levin]

From: Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@samsung.com>

[ Upstream commit 2bafeb8d2f380c3a81d98bd7b78b854b564f9cd4 ]

The -EEXIST error code is reserved by the module loading infrastructure
to indicate that a module is already loaded. When a module's init
function returns -EEXIST, userspace tools like kmod interpret this as
"module already loaded" and treat the operation as successful, returning
0 to the user even though the module initialization actually failed.

Replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY to ensure correct error reporting in the module
initialization path.

Affected modules:
  * ebtable_broute ebtable_filter ebtable_nat arptable_filter
  * ip6table_filter ip6table_mangle ip6table_nat ip6table_raw
  * ip6table_security iptable_filter iptable_mangle iptable_nat
  * iptable_raw iptable_security

Signed-off-by: Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@samsung.com>
Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---

LLM Generated explanations, may be completely bogus:

## Commit Analysis: netfilter: replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY

### 1. COMMIT MESSAGE ANALYSIS

The commit explains a subtle but important bug in error reporting:
- When module initialization returns `-EEXIST`, the kernel module
  loading infrastructure (kmod) interprets this as "module already
  loaded"
- kmod then returns **success (0)** to userspace, even though the module
  initialization actually **failed**
- This creates a silent failure condition where users believe operations
  succeeded when they didn't

Keywords: "error reporting", "failed" - this is a bug fix, not a
feature.

### 2. CODE CHANGE ANALYSIS

The changes are trivial and identical across three files:

**net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c** (`ebt_register_template()`):
```c
- return -EEXIST;
+                       return -EBUSY;
```

**net/netfilter/nf_log.c** (`nf_log_register()`):
```c
- ret = -EEXIST;
+                       ret = -EBUSY;
```

**net/netfilter/x_tables.c** (`xt_register_template()`):
```c
- int ret = -EEXIST, af = table->af;
+       int ret = -EBUSY, af = table->af;
```

All three functions are registration routines called during module
initialization for netfilter tables. When a duplicate name/type is
detected, they were returning `-EEXIST`, which gets misinterpreted by
kmod.

### 3. CLASSIFICATION

**Bug fix**: Corrects error code semantics. No new functionality, no
behavior change beyond proper error reporting.

The `-EBUSY` error code is semantically appropriate ("resource is
busy/in use") and is not intercepted specially by the module loading
infrastructure.

### 4. SCOPE AND RISK ASSESSMENT

- **Lines changed**: ~6 actual code changes
- **Files affected**: 3 files in netfilter subsystem
- **Complexity**: Trivial - only changing error code constants
- **Risk**: Extremely low - no logic changes at all

The only conceivable concern would be if userspace depended on
`-EEXIST`, but:
1. These are internal kernel registration functions
2. The duplicate condition should never occur in normal operation (note
   the `WARN_ON_ONCE`)
3. The current behavior is **wrong** - it reports success on failure

### 5. USER IMPACT

**High impact bug**:
- Affects all netfilter/iptables users when module initialization fails
- Security implications: Users may believe their firewall tables loaded
  successfully when they didn't
- Affected modules include: `iptable_filter`, `iptable_nat`,
  `ip6table_filter`, `ebtable_filter`, etc. - core firewall components

This is exactly the kind of silent failure that can cause security
issues in production.

### 6. STABILITY INDICATORS

- Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal (netfilter maintainer) - indicates
  proper review
- The fix is self-evidently correct
- Clear problem description in commit message

### 7. DEPENDENCY CHECK

- No dependencies on other commits
- The affected code (netfilter table registration) exists in all stable
  kernel trees
- These are long-standing, mature functions

### Summary

| Criterion | Assessment |
|-----------|------------|
| Fixes real bug? | ✅ Yes - silent failure condition |
| Obviously correct? | ✅ Yes - trivial error code change |
| Small and contained? | ✅ Yes - 6 lines across 3 files |
| Security relevant? | ✅ Yes - firewall may silently fail to load |
| Risk of regression? | ✅ Minimal - no logic changes |
| Dependencies? | ✅ None - self-contained |

This commit fixes incorrect error semantics that cause userspace tools
to report success when module initialization fails. The fix is trivial
(changing error codes), affects widely-used firewall code, has potential
security implications (users may not know their firewall failed), and
carries virtually zero regression risk. It meets all stable kernel
criteria.

**YES**

 net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c | 2 +-
 net/netfilter/nf_log.c          | 4 ++--
 net/netfilter/x_tables.c        | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c b/net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c
index 5697e3949a365..a04fc17575289 100644
--- a/net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c
+++ b/net/bridge/netfilter/ebtables.c
@@ -1299,7 +1299,7 @@ int ebt_register_template(const struct ebt_table *t, int (*table_init)(struct ne
 	list_for_each_entry(tmpl, &template_tables, list) {
 		if (WARN_ON_ONCE(strcmp(t->name, tmpl->name) == 0)) {
 			mutex_unlock(&ebt_mutex);
-			return -EEXIST;
+			return -EBUSY;
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_log.c b/net/netfilter/nf_log.c
index 74cef8bf554c5..62cf6a30875e3 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_log.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_log.c
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ int nf_log_register(u_int8_t pf, struct nf_logger *logger)
 	if (pf == NFPROTO_UNSPEC) {
 		for (i = NFPROTO_UNSPEC; i < NFPROTO_NUMPROTO; i++) {
 			if (rcu_access_pointer(loggers[i][logger->type])) {
-				ret = -EEXIST;
+				ret = -EBUSY;
 				goto unlock;
 			}
 		}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ int nf_log_register(u_int8_t pf, struct nf_logger *logger)
 			rcu_assign_pointer(loggers[i][logger->type], logger);
 	} else {
 		if (rcu_access_pointer(loggers[pf][logger->type])) {
-			ret = -EEXIST;
+			ret = -EBUSY;
 			goto unlock;
 		}
 		rcu_assign_pointer(loggers[pf][logger->type], logger);
diff --git a/net/netfilter/x_tables.c b/net/netfilter/x_tables.c
index 90b7630421c44..48105ea3df152 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/x_tables.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/x_tables.c
@@ -1764,7 +1764,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(xt_hook_ops_alloc);
 int xt_register_template(const struct xt_table *table,
 			 int (*table_init)(struct net *net))
 {
-	int ret = -EEXIST, af = table->af;
+	int ret = -EBUSY, af = table->af;
 	struct xt_template *t;
 
 	mutex_lock(&xt[af].mutex);
-- 
2.51.0