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From: Volker Diels-Grabsch <v@njh.eu>
To: passt-dev@passt.top
Cc: Volker Diels-Grabsch <v@njh.eu>
Subject: [PATCH v5 5/5] Send an initial ARP and NDP request to resolve the guest IP address
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2025 22:19:05 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250911201900.237677-10-v@njh.eu> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250911201900.237677-2-v@njh.eu>

When restarting passt while QEMU keeps running with a configured
"reconnect-ms" setting, the port forwardings will stop working until
the guest sends some outgoing network traffic.

Reason: Although QEMU reconnects successfully to the unix domain
socket of the new passt process, that one no longer knows the guest's
MAC address and uses instead the broadcast MAC address.  However, this
is ignored by the guest, at least if the guest runs Linux.  Only after
the guest sends some network package on its own initiative, passt will
know the MAC address and will be able to establish forwarded
connections.

This change fixes this issue by sending an ARP and an NDP request to
resolve the guest's MAC address via its IPv4 and IPv6 address, which
we do know, right after the unix domain socket (re)connection.

The only case where the IP is "wrong" would be if the configuration
changed, or on the very first start right after qemu started.  But in
those cases, we just wouldn't get an ARP/NDP response, and can't do
anything until we receive the guest's DHCP request - just as before.
In other words, in the worst case the ARP/NDP requests would be
harmless.

Signed-off-by: Volker Diels-Grabsch <v@njh.eu>
---
v4:
  - Shorten debug() messages
  - Split out unrelated improvements into separate patches
---
 arp.c   | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 arp.h   |  1 +
 ndp.c   | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 ndp.h   |  1 +
 passt.1 |  4 ++--
 tap.c   |  5 +++++
 6 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arp.c b/arp.c
index 44677ad..ad088b1 100644
--- a/arp.c
+++ b/arp.c
@@ -112,3 +112,37 @@ int arp(const struct ctx *c, struct iov_tail *data)
 
 	return 1;
 }
+
+/**
+ * arp_send_init_req() - Send initial ARP request to retrieve guest MAC address
+ * @c:		Execution context
+ */
+void arp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c)
+{
+	struct {
+		struct ethhdr eh;
+		struct arphdr ah;
+		struct arpmsg am;
+	} __attribute__((__packed__)) req;
+
+	/* Ethernet header */
+	req.eh.h_proto = htons(ETH_P_ARP);
+	memcpy(req.eh.h_dest, MAC_BROADCAST, sizeof(req.eh.h_dest));
+	memcpy(req.eh.h_source, c->our_tap_mac, sizeof(req.eh.h_source));
+
+	/* ARP header */
+	req.ah.ar_op = htons(ARPOP_REQUEST);
+	req.ah.ar_hrd = htons(ARPHRD_ETHER);
+	req.ah.ar_pro = htons(ETH_P_IP);
+	req.ah.ar_hln = ETH_ALEN;
+	req.ah.ar_pln = 4;
+
+	/* ARP message */
+	memcpy(req.am.sha,	c->our_tap_mac,		sizeof(req.am.sha));
+	memcpy(req.am.sip,	&c->ip4.our_tap_addr,	sizeof(req.am.sip));
+	memcpy(req.am.tha,	MAC_BROADCAST,		sizeof(req.am.tha));
+	memcpy(req.am.tip,	&c->ip4.addr,		sizeof(req.am.tip));
+
+	debug("Sending initial ARP request for guest MAC address");
+	tap_send_single(c, &req, sizeof(req));
+}
diff --git a/arp.h b/arp.h
index 86bcbf8..d5ad0e1 100644
--- a/arp.h
+++ b/arp.h
@@ -21,5 +21,6 @@ struct arpmsg {
 } __attribute__((__packed__));
 
 int arp(const struct ctx *c, struct iov_tail *data);
+void arp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c);
 
 #endif /* ARP_H */
diff --git a/ndp.c b/ndp.c
index eb090cd..588b48f 100644
--- a/ndp.c
+++ b/ndp.c
@@ -438,3 +438,23 @@ void ndp_timer(const struct ctx *c, const struct timespec *now)
 first:
 	next_ra = now->tv_sec + interval;
 }
+
+/**
+ * ndp_send_init_req() - Send initial NDP NS to retrieve guest MAC address
+ * @c:		Execution context
+ */
+void ndp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c)
+{
+	struct ndp_ns ns = {
+		.ih = {
+			.icmp6_type		= NS,
+			.icmp6_code		= 0,
+			.icmp6_router		= 0, /* Reserved */
+			.icmp6_solicited	= 0, /* Reserved */
+			.icmp6_override		= 0, /* Reserved */
+		},
+		.target_addr = c->ip6.addr
+	};
+	debug("Sending initial NDP NS request for guest MAC address");
+	ndp_send(c, &c->ip6.addr, &ns, sizeof(ns));
+}
diff --git a/ndp.h b/ndp.h
index b1dd5e8..781ea86 100644
--- a/ndp.h
+++ b/ndp.h
@@ -11,5 +11,6 @@ struct icmp6hdr;
 int ndp(const struct ctx *c, const struct in6_addr *saddr,
 	struct iov_tail *data);
 void ndp_timer(const struct ctx *c, const struct timespec *now);
+void ndp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c);
 
 #endif /* NDP_H */
diff --git a/passt.1 b/passt.1
index dd00b08..af5726a 100644
--- a/passt.1
+++ b/passt.1
@@ -330,8 +330,8 @@ selected IPv4 default route.
 
 .TP
 .BR \-\-no-ndp
-Disable NDP responses. NDP messages coming from guest or target namespace will
-be ignored.
+Disable Neighbor Discovery. NDP messages coming from guest or target
+namespace will be ignored. No initial NDP message will be sent.
 
 .TP
 .BR \-\-no-dhcpv6
diff --git a/tap.c b/tap.c
index ba6d7b4..2a8e11b 100644
--- a/tap.c
+++ b/tap.c
@@ -1359,6 +1359,11 @@ static void tap_start_connection(const struct ctx *c)
 	ev.events = EPOLLIN | EPOLLRDHUP;
 	ev.data.u64 = ref.u64;
 	epoll_ctl(c->epollfd, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, c->fd_tap, &ev);
+
+	if (c->ifi4)
+		arp_send_init_req(c);
+	if (c->ifi6 && !c->no_ndp)
+		ndp_send_init_req(c);
 }
 
 /**
-- 
@@ -1359,6 +1359,11 @@ static void tap_start_connection(const struct ctx *c)
 	ev.events = EPOLLIN | EPOLLRDHUP;
 	ev.data.u64 = ref.u64;
 	epoll_ctl(c->epollfd, EPOLL_CTL_ADD, c->fd_tap, &ev);
+
+	if (c->ifi4)
+		arp_send_init_req(c);
+	if (c->ifi6 && !c->no_ndp)
+		ndp_send_init_req(c);
 }
 
 /**
-- 
2.47.3


      parent reply	other threads:[~2025-09-11 20:20 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2025-09-11 20:18 [PATCH v5 1/5] Show debug message whenever we learn a new guest MAC address Volker Diels-Grabsch
2025-09-11 20:18 ` [PATCH v5 2/5] Improve clarity of comment Volker Diels-Grabsch
2025-09-11 20:19 ` [PATCH v5 3/5] Introduce constant MAC_BROADCAST Volker Diels-Grabsch
2025-09-11 20:19 ` [PATCH v5 4/5] Fix --no-icmp description and make it imply --no-ndp Volker Diels-Grabsch
2025-09-11 20:19 ` Volker Diels-Grabsch [this message]

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