vboxnetflt and kernel Oops, generally unstable

[Mike]

After compiling and installing VBox 2.1.0 OSE, and then loading vboxdrv and vboxnetflt kernel modules, trying to run iptables -F panics the kernel.

After reboot, modprobing these modules again and then:

1. building the debian packages
2. trying to install them

"rmmod vboxnetflt" hangs, and every conecutice cal to any kernel modules-related function (through i.e. insmod, lsmod, modprobe) hangs too. Dmesg output in the attachment.

[Mike]

Oh, forgot about that:

• system - Ubuntu Dapper Sever 6.06.2
• kerel - 2.6.15-52-server
• arch - i386

Guest OS: does not apply, the bug shows itself regardless of Guest OS.

[Frank Mehnert]

The problem seems to be the old host kernel. We will investigate that.

[Mike]

VBox installed through generated debian package (after host reboot) oopsed againg. I failed to pinpoint the exact moment/activity that triggered the oopses (to be fixed next time, promise ;) )

[Mike]

after these oopses, modprobe -r vboxnetflt hangs again, with CPU usage skyrocketing (same was happening before), but without *any* dmesg output, whatsoever.

I will be able to reboot the machine in a week or two, I'll try to debug further then.

Any pointers on debugging greatly appreciated!

[Aleksey Ilyushin]

Appears to be the same problem as #2827. The fix will be included into the next maintenance release. Since netflt driver always comes with source code those who urgently need the fix may apply the following patch to src/vboxnetflt/linux/VBoxNetFlt-linux.c (the path is relative to your vbox installation directory):

1031c1031
<     INIT_WORK(&pThis->u.s.XmitTask, vboxNetFltLinuxXmitTask, NULL);
---
>     INIT_WORK(&pThis->u.s.XmitTask, vboxNetFltLinuxXmitTask, &pThis->u.s.XmitTask);

Then, kernel modules need to be re-built with

/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

[Mike]

I confirm this fix does the job - and does it well. Everything seems to work AOK, kernel seems solid again (testing just for 3 hours, so it still might fail), no fsckups upon fiddling with iptables or pinging the virtual machines.

thanks, guys, great job and a great Christmass/New Year present for us here!

have a great 2k9!

rysiek

[Frank Mehnert]

I will close this bug as duplicate. Additional kernel oops problems with vboxnetflt please to #2885.