From: Jon Maloy <jmaloy@redhat.com>
To: sbrivio@redhat.com, dgibson@redhat.com,
david@gibson.dropbear.id.au, jmaloy@redhat.com,
passt-dev@passt.top
Subject: [PATCH v12 3/9] arp/ndp: send ARP announcement / unsolicited NA when neigbour entry added
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2025 20:34:06 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20251003003412.588801-4-jmaloy@redhat.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20251003003412.588801-1-jmaloy@redhat.com>
ARP announcements and unsolicited NAs should be handled with caution
because of the risk of malignant users emitting them to disturb
network communication.
There is however one case we where we know it is legitimate
and safe for us to send out such messages: The one time we switch
from using ctx->own_tap_mac to a MAC address received via the
recently added neigbour subscription function. Later changes to
the MAC address of a host in an existing entry cannot be fully
trusted, so we abstain from doing it in such cases.
When sending this type of messages, we notice that the guest accepts
the update, but shortly later asks for a confirmation in the form of
a regular ARP/NS request. This is responded to with the new value,
and we have exactly the effect we wanted.
This commit adds this functionality.
Signed-off-by: Jon Maloy <jmaloy@redhat.com>
---
v10: -Made small changes based of feedback from David G.
v11: -Moved from 'Gratuitous ARP reply' model to 'ARP Announcement'
model.
v12: -Excluding loopback and default GW addresses from the ARP/NA
announcement to be sent to the guest
---
arp.c | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
arp.h | 2 ++
fwd.c | 16 ++++++++++++++++
ndp.c | 10 ++++++++++
ndp.h | 1 +
5 files changed, 71 insertions(+)
diff --git a/arp.c b/arp.c
index ad088b1..b08780f 100644
--- a/arp.c
+++ b/arp.c
@@ -146,3 +146,45 @@ void arp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c)
debug("Sending initial ARP request for guest MAC address");
tap_send_single(c, &req, sizeof(req));
}
+
+/**
+ * arp_announce() - Send an ARP announcement for an IPv4 host
+ * @c: Execution context
+ * @ip: IPv4 address we announce as owned by @mac
+ * @mac: MAC address to advertise for @ip
+ */
+void arp_announce(const struct ctx *c, struct in_addr *ip,
+ const unsigned char *mac)
+{
+ char ip_str[INET_ADDRSTRLEN];
+ char mac_str[ETH_ADDRSTRLEN];
+ struct {
+ struct ethhdr eh;
+ struct arphdr ah;
+ struct arpmsg am;
+ } __attribute__((__packed__)) annc;
+
+ /* Ethernet header */
+ annc.eh.h_proto = htons(ETH_P_ARP);
+ memcpy(annc.eh.h_dest, MAC_BROADCAST, sizeof(annc.eh.h_dest));
+ memcpy(annc.eh.h_source, mac, sizeof(annc.eh.h_source));
+
+ /* ARP header */
+ annc.ah.ar_op = htons(ARPOP_REQUEST);
+ annc.ah.ar_hrd = htons(ARPHRD_ETHER);
+ annc.ah.ar_pro = htons(ETH_P_IP);
+ annc.ah.ar_hln = ETH_ALEN;
+ annc.ah.ar_pln = 4;
+
+ /* ARP message */
+ memcpy(annc.am.sha, mac, sizeof(annc.am.sha));
+ memcpy(annc.am.sip, ip, sizeof(annc.am.sip));
+ memcpy(annc.am.tha, MAC_BROADCAST, sizeof(annc.am.tha));
+ memcpy(annc.am.tip, ip, sizeof(annc.am.tip));
+
+ inet_ntop(AF_INET, ip, ip_str, sizeof(ip_str));
+ eth_ntop(mac, mac_str, sizeof(mac_str));
+ debug("Announcing ARP for %s / %s", ip_str, mac_str);
+
+ tap_send_single(c, &annc, sizeof(annc));
+}
diff --git a/arp.h b/arp.h
index d5ad0e1..4862e90 100644
--- a/arp.h
+++ b/arp.h
@@ -22,5 +22,7 @@ struct arpmsg {
int arp(const struct ctx *c, struct iov_tail *data);
void arp_send_init_req(const struct ctx *c);
+void arp_announce(const struct ctx *c, struct in_addr *ip,
+ const unsigned char *mac);
#endif /* ARP_H */
diff --git a/fwd.c b/fwd.c
index c34bb1c..ade97c8 100644
--- a/fwd.c
+++ b/fwd.c
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
#include "passt.h"
#include "lineread.h"
#include "flow_table.h"
+#include "arp.h"
+#include "ndp.h"
/* Empheral port range: values from RFC 6335 */
static in_port_t fwd_ephemeral_min = (1 << 15) + (1 << 14);
@@ -140,6 +142,20 @@ void fwd_neigh_table_update(const struct ctx *c, const union inany_addr *addr,
memcpy(&e->addr, addr, sizeof(*addr));
memcpy(e->mac, mac, ETH_ALEN);
+
+ if (inany_equals(addr, &inany_loopback4))
+ return;
+ if (inany_equals(addr, &inany_loopback6))
+ return;
+ if (inany_equals(addr, &inany_from_v4(c->ip4.guest_gw)))
+ return;
+ if (inany_equals(addr, (union inany_addr *)&c->ip6.guest_gw))
+ return;
+
+ if (inany_v4(addr))
+ arp_announce(c, inany_v4(addr), e->mac);
+ else
+ ndp_send_unsolicited_na(c, &addr->a6);
}
/**
diff --git a/ndp.c b/ndp.c
index 588b48f..d7f64a3 100644
--- a/ndp.c
+++ b/ndp.c
@@ -218,6 +218,16 @@ static void ndp_na(const struct ctx *c, const struct in6_addr *dst,
ndp_send(c, dst, &na, sizeof(na));
}
+/**
+ * ndp_send_unsolicited_na() - Send unsolicited NA
+ * @c: Execution context
+ * @addr: IPv6 address to advertise
+ */
+void ndp_send_unsolicited_na(const struct ctx *c, const struct in6_addr *addr)
+{
+ ndp_na(c, &in6addr_ll_all_nodes, addr);
+}
+
/**
* ndp_ra() - Send an NDP Router Advertisement (RA) message
* @c: Execution context
diff --git a/ndp.h b/ndp.h
index 781ea86..320009c 100644
--- a/ndp.h
+++ b/ndp.h
@@ -12,5 +12,6 @@ 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);
+void ndp_send_unsolicited_na(const struct ctx *c, const struct in6_addr *addr);
#endif /* NDP_H */
--
2.50.1
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-10-03 0:34 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 28+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-10-03 0:34 [PATCH v12 0/9] Use true MAC address of LAN local remote hosts Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 1/9] netlink: add subsciption on changes in NDP/ARP table Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:01 ` David Gibson
2025-10-06 22:33 ` Stefano Brivio
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 2/9] fwd: Add cache table for ARP/NDP contents Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 1:03 ` Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:31 ` David Gibson
2025-10-05 15:52 ` Jon Maloy
2025-10-06 22:33 ` Stefano Brivio
2025-10-07 3:33 ` David Gibson
2025-10-06 22:40 ` Stefano Brivio
2025-10-03 0:34 ` Jon Maloy [this message]
2025-10-03 4:41 ` [PATCH v12 3/9] arp/ndp: send ARP announcement / unsolicited NA when neigbour entry added David Gibson
2025-10-07 10:10 ` Stefano Brivio
2025-10-06 22:51 ` Stefano Brivio
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 4/9] arp/ndp: respond with true MAC address of LAN local remote hosts Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:48 ` David Gibson
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 5/9] flow: add MAC address of LAN local remote hosts to flow Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 6/9] udp: forward external source MAC address through tap interface Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:52 ` David Gibson
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 7/9] tcp: " Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:54 ` David Gibson
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 8/9] tap: change signature of function tap_push_l2h() Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 0:34 ` [PATCH v12 9/9] icmp: let icmp use mac address from flowside structure Jon Maloy
2025-10-03 4:57 ` David Gibson
2025-10-03 5:33 ` [PATCH v12 0/9] Use true MAC address of LAN local remote hosts David Gibson
2025-10-05 13:39 ` Jon Maloy
2025-10-07 0:56 ` David Gibson
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20251003003412.588801-4-jmaloy@redhat.com \
--to=jmaloy@redhat.com \
--cc=david@gibson.dropbear.id.au \
--cc=dgibson@redhat.com \
--cc=passt-dev@passt.top \
--cc=sbrivio@redhat.com \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
Code repositories for project(s) associated with this public inbox
https://passt.top/passt
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for IMAP folder(s).