ip link set master recursively put devices into promiscuous mode?

ip link set master recursively put devices into promiscuous mode?

[Tom Yan]

Hi,

I've bumped into a weird / bad behavior of ip link when I use it to
enslave a passthru macvlan to a bridge:

# grep . /etc/systemd/network/*.net*
[NetDev]
Name=bridge1
Kind=bridge
# ip l add macvl0 link wlan0 type macvlan mode passthru
# date; ip l set macvl0 up
Mon Aug 16 05:31:02 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l delete macvl0
Mon Aug 16 05:31:12 PM HKT 2021
# ip l add macvl0 link wlan0 type macvlan mode passthru
# date; ip l set macvl0 up
Mon Aug 16 05:31:35 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l set macvl0 master bridge1
Mon Aug 16 05:31:42 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l delete macvl0
Mon Aug 16 05:31:47 PM HKT 2021
# journalctl -k | grep promisc
Aug 16 17:31:02 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:31:12 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 left promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:31:35 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:31:42 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:31:47 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 left promiscuous mode

The cause became clear when I use the nopromisc flag:

# ip l add macvl0 link wlan0 type macvlan mode passthru nopromisc
# date; ip l set macvl0 up
Mon Aug 16 05:35:27 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l set macvl0 master bridge1
Mon Aug 16 05:35:36 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l delete macvl0
Mon Aug 16 05:35:47 PM HKT 2021
# journalctl -k | grep promisc
Aug 16 17:35:36 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:35:36 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:35:47 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 left promiscuous mode

For some reason it causes the underlying device of the macvlan to also
enter promiscuous mode. In addition to the fact that the behavior
causes the underlying device *stay* in promiscuous mode (which shows
why it is *bad*), it does not seem to be a kernel-side problem either,
as when I use systemd-networkd to enslave the macvlan, it works as
expected / desired:

# grep . /etc/systemd/network/*.net*
/etc/systemd/network/bridge1.netdev:[NetDev]
/etc/systemd/network/bridge1.netdev:Name=bridge1
/etc/systemd/network/bridge1.netdev:Kind=bridge
/etc/systemd/network/macvl0.network:[Match]
/etc/systemd/network/macvl0.network:Name=macvl0
/etc/systemd/network/macvl0.network:[Network]
/etc/systemd/network/macvl0.network:Bridge=bridge1
# date; ip l add macvl0 link wlan0 type macvlan mode passthru
Mon Aug 16 05:21:50 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l delete macvl0
Mon Aug 16 05:22:01 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l add macvl0 link wlan0 type macvlan mode passthru nopromisc
Mon Aug 16 05:22:09 PM HKT 2021
# date; ip l delete macvl0
Mon Aug 16 05:22:15 PM HKT 2021
# journalctl -k | grep -i promisc
Aug 16 17:21:50 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:21:50 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:22:01 ideapad kernel: device wlan0 left promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:22:01 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 left promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:22:09 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 entered promiscuous mode
Aug 16 17:22:15 ideapad kernel: device macvl0 left promiscuous mode

Any ideas?

Regards,
Tom