On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 7:47 PM Ilya Maximets <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 1/27/26 2:49 PM, Dumitru Ceara wrote:
> > On 1/27/26 2:28 PM, Ilya Maximets wrote:
> >> On 1/27/26 2:21 PM, Dumitru Ceara wrote:
> >>> On 1/27/26 2:07 PM, Ilya Maximets wrote:
> >>>> On 1/27/26 1:29 PM, Dumitru Ceara wrote:
> >>>>> On 1/27/26 12:54 PM, Ilya Maximets wrote:
> >>>>>> On 1/27/26 10:44 AM, Dumitru Ceara wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hi Ales, Ilya,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> On 1/27/26 7:27 AM, Ales Musil via dev wrote:
> >>>>>>>> On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 5:56 PM Ilya Maximets <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> On 1/26/26 3:00 PM, Ales Musil via dev wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>> The RFC defines a Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol [0], in
> order
> >>>>>>>>>> for that protocol to work the workload might "spoof" MAC address
> >>>>>>>>>> within ARP or ND request/response. This wasn't allowed as the
> port
> >>>>>>>>>> security is specifically designed against spoofing and checks if
> >>>>>>>>>> the port security MAC address is the same for source of ARP/ND
> >>>>>>>>>> and the inner source/target address. To make the port security
> >>>>>>>>>> compliant add an option which when enabled will add extra flows
> >>>>>>>>>> that match on the MAC specified by the option (within the range)
> >>>>>>>>>> or any MACs.
> >>>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>> [0] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5798
> >>>>>>>>>> Reported-at: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/FDP-2979
> >>>>>>>>>> Signed-off-by: Ales Musil <[email protected]>
> >>>>>>>>>> ---
> >>>>>>>>>> v2: Rebase on top of latest main.
> >>>>>>>>>>     Add missing checks in the test.
> >>>>>>>>>>     Rename the option to "port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd".
> >>>>>>>>>>     Allow the list of MACs to be specified in the option.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> I don't think we finished the discussion on v1, and it seems like
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Just for tracking, the v1 discussion:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg100992.html
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> v2 is taking the "worst of both worlds" approach when it comes to
> >>>>>>>>> user experience, i.e. having a very long option name and also
> >>>>>>>>> forcing to specify all the MAC addresses twice.  Why can't we
> just
> >>>>>>>>> allow all the specified MAC addresses and not require listing
> them
> >>>>>>>>> again in the port_security column?
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> One thing we didn't discuss on-list until now, which makes me favor
> >>>>>>> Ales' v2 proposal is:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> If we allow all the specified MAC addresses and don't require
> listing
> >>>>>>> them again in the port_security column, then with the following
> >>>>>>> configuration:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> - port_security=[<physical-MAC>]
> >>>>>>> - port-security-allow-vrrpv3=[<VRRP-MAC1>, <VRRP-MAC2>]
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> we would:
> >>>>>>> a. allow traffic from <physical-MAC>
> >>>>>>> b. allow ARPs with eth.src=<physical-MAC> && arp.sha=<physical-MAC>
> >>>>>>>    (same for ND)
> >>>>>>> c. allow traffic from <VRRP-MAC1> and <VRRP-MAC2>
> >>>>>>> d. allow ARPs with eth.src=<physical-MAC> && arp.sha=<VRRP-MAC1>
> >>>>>>>    and ARPs with eth.src=<physical-MAC> && arp.sha=<VRRP-MAC2>
> >>>>>>>    (same for ND)
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> However, if we look at the non-VRRP case, users can rely on
> >>>>>>> port_security today to further restrict the traffic they allow on
> >>>>>>> a logical port by also specifying a list of allowed IP addresses
> >>>>>>> (or CIDRs) for each mac.  That is, if:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> port_security=["<physical-MAC1> IP1 IP2", "<physical-MAC2> IP3
> IP4"]
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Then for that LSP traffic is allowed only if it's from/for
> >>>>>>> <physical-MAC1> _and_ one of IP1 or IP2 OR if it's from/for
> >>>>>>> <physical-MAC2> _and_ one of IP3 or IP4.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Back to the VRRP case, if we go with Ilya's suggestion, if users
> >>>>>>> also want to further restrict port security to only allow the VRRP
> >>>>>>> VIP for a given VRID the only way to achieve that would be:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> - port_security=["<physical-MAC>", "<VRRP-MAC1> VIP1",
> "<VRRP-MAC2> VIP2"]
> >>>>>>> - port-security-allow-vrrpv3=[<VRRP-MAC1>, <VRRP-MAC2>]
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> But this will not allow actual routing, i.e. this will only allow
> the
> >>>>>> virtual router to route packets between VIP1 and VIP2.  Is that a
> common
> >>>>>> or desired configuration?  It's practically a router for two IPs
> that
> >>>>>> belong to that same router...?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> That's a good point, I was stuck in my "traditional" OVN view of
> things.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> In this case the VRRP VR is probably the gateway (for some of the
> other
> >>>>> LSPs in the switch) so it wouldn't really make sense to configure the
> >>>>> VIP into port_security, just the VRRP mac, as it's valid to accept
> >>>>> packets with destIP == "external" and dmac == "VRRP-MAC".
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>> So users would still have to duplicate the VRRP MACs in some of the
> >>>>>>> cases.  I don't have stats about it but my guess is in most
> deployments
> >>>>>>> port security usually includes both the MACs and the IPs of the
> workloads.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> If that's the case then we should not introduce the new option at
> all,
> >>>>>> but allow multiple MAC addresses within the port_security record, so
> >>>>>> OVN can generate rules for permutations of these MAC addresses with
> the
> >>>>>> corresponding IP addresses.  For simplicity, we may restrict the
> number
> >>>>>> of addresses to some fairly small number or allow masking.   This
> >>>>>> will be the most versatile and user-friendly configuration as no new
> >>>>>> knobs will be required, no duplication, and the option will also not
> >>>>>> be tied to VRRP, so can be re-purposed for other things,
> potentially.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> So, to clarify, your suggestion is to change allowed values for
> >>>>> port_security to be a list of:
> >>>>> "MAC1 MAC2 .. MAC_N IP1 IP2 .. IP_M"
> >>>>>
> >>>>> vs the current:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "MAC1 IP1 IP2 .. IP_M"
> >>>>>
> >>>>> right?
> >>>>
> >>>> Right.
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> And generate port security flows that allow:
> >>>>> - IP packets to/from MAC-X,IP-Y where X=[1..N], Y=[1..M]
> >>>>> - ARP packets with eth.src=MAC-X,ARP.sha=MAC-Y,ARP.spa=IP-Z where
> >>>>> X=[1..N], Y=[1..N], Z=[1..M]
> >>>>> - ND packets too as above
> >>>>>
> >>>>> So 2 x M x N ^ 2 + M x N flows.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I guess that's doable and up to the user to not add too many mac
> addresses.
> >>>>
> >>>> With the port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd="MAC1 MAC2 .. MAC_N"
> >>>> we also need the port-security=["MACX IP1 IP2 .. IP_M",
> >>>>                                 "MAC1 IP1 IP2 .. IP_M",
> >>>>                                 "MAC2 IP1 IP2 .. IP_M",
> >>>>                                 ...
> >>>>                                 "MAC_N IP1 IP2 .. IP_M"]
> >>>>
> >>>> in order to allow the actual routed traffic, which is
> >>>>
> >>>>  - N x M just for port security itself.
> >>>>  - M x N ^ 2 for the ARP/ND
> >>>>
> >>>> Which is exactly the same as with the multiple MACs in the same
> >>>
> >>> True.
> >>>
> >>>> port security record, but with a huge pile of extra repeated
> >>>> configuration in the database.  We also have no control over
> >>>> the MACs in different port security records, so it's harder to
> >>>> find duplicates, which is important as only the half of these
> >>>> flows will be unique.
> >>>>
> >>>> Note: these IPs are IPs of the other LSPs from which this VR
> >>>> is routing the traffic, i.e. the traffic source.  If we consider
> >>>
> >>> Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying here but that's not how
> >>> port_security works, it's not an ACL, it should contain addresses (MACs
> >>> and IPs) owned by the LSP it's applied on.
> >>
> >> Routers route traffic from someone else.  It means that traffic
> >> that enters OVN from this LSP will have someone else's source IP.
> >> If this IP is not in the port security configuration, the packet
> >> will be dropped.  Or am I missing something?
> >>
> >
> > Ah, so it's actually traffic coming from "outside" the vrouter, towards
> > other LSPs that would have this issue.  Because from OVN perspective
> > it's traffic originating from the vrouter LSP.
> >
> > But in that case it would be a wide range of IPs that would have to be
> > allowed as "source".  So probably in practice we'd no see this being
> used.
> >
> >>>
> >>>> that source traffic IPs do not overlap between VRIDs, then the
> >>>> config becomes simpler, but the same is true for the multiple
> >>>> MAC in the same port-security option, it will become:
> >>>> "MAC_PHY MAC_V1 IP_SET_1", "MAC_PHY MAC_V1 IP_SET_2".  We'll
> >>>> be repeating the MAC_PHY here, but it doesn't seem too bad in
> >>>> comparison with the v2 option.
> >>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> But it will also be hard to implement the "any VRRP MAC" semantics
> and
> >>>>> users will have to add 512 MACs if they want that behavior.  Which
> >>>>> would mean that, in order to have this generic solution, we'd
> probably
> >>>>> need to allow masked MACs, something like:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> "MAC1/mask1 MAC2/mask2 .. MAC_N/mask_N IP1 IP2 .. IP_M"
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Which becomes very complex very quickly IMO (if I try to put myself
> in
> >>>>> the shoes of a user).
> >>>>
> >>>> If we use prefixes instead of arbitrary masks, /40 doesn't seem
> >>>> too complicated.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Sure, for VRRP MACs it's a relatively easy to read:
> >>> 00:00:5E:00:00:00/40
> >>>
> >>> But in general, this can be any MAC and prefix, e.g.:
> >>> 00:00:12:34:56:78/33
> >>>
> >>> which is incorrect actually, it should be (I think):
> >>> 00:00:12:34:00:00/33
> >>>
> >>> Which makes me step back and think about what we're trying to fix here:
> >>> the problem that triggered this long discussion is the fact that VRRP
> >>> ARPs use the physical MAC as ethernet source and the virtual mac as ARP
> >>> source and port security didn't allow that.
> >>>
> >>> So it really feels to me like we're over-engineering at this point.
> >>>
> >>> I know new knobs are not nice, and it would be a very specific VRRP
> knob
> >>> but it really feels to me like the alternatives are a bit of
> >>> over-engineering at this point.
> >>
> >> That's why the original proposal was to just have a simple knob that
> >> allows all VRRP and the routed traffic, i.e. port-security-allow-vrrpv3.
> >> That is simple, targeted, and doesn't force users to put a ton of
> >> duplicated addresses into the port security.
> >>
> >
> > But that did mean, adding implicit port_security rules for VRRP routed
> > traffic and VRRP ARPs, duplicating what port_security does for the
> > former, just that it would be for all VRRP macs (or for a subset
> > specified by MAC/ID).
> >
> > So it still feels to me like the config duplication (most likely in
> > practice we won't have more than a handful of VRRP MACs) is not such a
> > huge compromise as it doesn't "hide" some port security rules.
> >
> > I know internally we had a discussion about the statement in our docs
> > saying that port security is "a convenience to cloud management systems,
> > but all of the features that it implements can be implemented as ACLs".
> >
> > Implementing your suggestion would create another (in lack of a better
> > term) layer of abstraction.  I.e., the users reading the config:
> >
> > port_security=[MAC1 MAC2]
> > port-security-allow-vrrpv3=[VRRP-MAC1/yes]
> >
> > would have to interpret it as:
> >
> > "allow traffic from this LSP only if:
> > - it originates from MAC1 or MAC2 or VRRP-MAC1 if it's plain IP
> > - it originates from MAC1 or MAC2 and it's an ARP with SHA=VRRP-MAC1
> >
> > allow traffic to this LSP only if
> > - it's destined to MAC1 or MAC2 or VRRP-MAC2 if it's plain IP"
> >
> > Which is, aside from the duplication of config, exactly the same
> > behavior as proposed by this v2 patch.
>
> The behavior is not the argument from my side.  I'm just trying to argue
> for a better UX, i.e. easier to understand configuration.
>
> Both 'port-security-allow-vrrpv3' and the
> 'port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd'
> are modifiers applied to the port security, which require extra
> understanding.
> In other words, just looking at the port security, user can't have a full
> picture of what is allowed and what is not and will have to do the mental
> math to map things onto each other in different combinations, as both
> options
> will affect every port security entry separately.
>
> The mutli-MAC port security syntax approach ("MAC1 MACN IP1 IPN") has an
> advantage of keeping everything in the same place, so if you look at port
> security, you know what it allows.
>
> The exact syntax may be a bit convoluted and may use some work, I agree.
>
> For example, in practice, I'm not sure we'll need more than one "physical"
> MAC, so having an option to allow multiple MACs generically is probably not
> necessary.  We could come up with a distinct syntax for VRRP-allowed port
> security, e.g.
>   "VRRPv3 <MAC_PHY> <VRRP_MAC1> <VRRP_NET/plen> <IP_1> <IP_NET/plen>".
> This would mean:
>
> 1. Allow IP traffic from VRRP_MAC1 or VRRP_NET/plen + IP_1 or IP_NET/plen.
> 2. Allow ARP from MAC_PHY with VRRP_MAC1 or VRRP_NET/plen as SHA and
>    IP_1 or IP_NET/plen as SIP.
>
> No inter-operation or side effects on other entries within port-security
> column on the same port.
>
> The "any v4" config would look like:
>
> port-security=["02:12:34:56:78:9a 192.168.1.2",
>                "VRRPv3 02:12:34:56:78:9a 00:00:5e:00:01:00/40"]
>
> We may also omit the masked MAC address meaning "any", e.g.
>
> port-security=["02:12:34:56:78:9a 192.168.1.2",
>                "VRRPv3 02:12:34:56:78:9a"]
>
> IMO, seems more clear what it does, and no mental math required.
>
> If we want to restrict the VR to only some particular networks:
>
> port-security=[
>   "02:12:34:56:78:9a 192.168.1.2",
>   "VRRPv3 02:12:34:56:78:9a 00:00:5e:00:01:00/40 192.168.1.0/24
> 10.10.0.0/16"]
>
> This would allow forwarding between internal subnet 192.168.1.0/24 and
> some external subnet 10.10.0.0/16.  Though, as you mentioned, it seems
> like not a particularly useful restriction to apply as the external
> traffic subnet would likely need to be pretty large.
>
> WDYT?
>
>
> Summarizing all proposals with configuration that allows all the
> required types of traffic, including ARP, normal IP, and routed IP:
>
> 1. "arp-nd option" (I added /40 syntax to avoid listing all 255 MACs).
>
>    - Any VRID:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd="any"
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY", "VRRP-v4MAC/40", "VRRP-v6MAC/40"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Any IP:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd="VRRP-MAC1 VRRP-MAC2"
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY", "VRRP-MAC1", "VRRP-MAC2"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Specific IPs:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3-arp-nd="VRRP-MAC1 VRRP-MAC2"
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY", "VRRP-MAC1 IPs-1", "VRRP-MAC2 IPs-2"]
>
>
> 2. "full allow-vrrp".
>
>    - Any VRID:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3=["any"]
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Any IP:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3=["VRRP-MAC1", "VRRP-MAC2"]
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Specific IPs:
>    port-security-allow-vrrpv3=["VRRP-MAC1 IPs-1", "VRRP-MAC2 IPs-2"]
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY"]
>
>
> 3. "multi-MAC port-security".
>
>    - Any VRID:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY VRRP-v4MAC/40 VRRP-v6MAC/40"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Any IP:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC1", "MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC2"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Specific IPs:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC1 IPs-1", "MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC2 IPs-2"]
>
>
> 4. "VRRP-specific port-security".
>
>    - Any VRID:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY", "VRRPv3 MAC-PHY"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Any IP:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY",
>                   "VRRPv3 MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC1 VRRP-MAC2"]
>
>    - 2 VRID, Specific IPs:
>    port-security=["MAC-PHY",
>                   "VRRPv3 MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC1 IPs-1",
>                   "VRRPv3 MAC-PHY VRRP-MAC2 IPs-2"]
>
>
> My preference here is 4, as it is explicit and the least verbose
> for a simple config and still fairly simple for the complex case.
> It also tells the full store in a single place with no mental math
> required.
>
> Next in priotity would be 2, as it is the most concise.  Then 3
> and then 1.  Note that 1 is not really what this patch is proposing
> as it also adds prefix matches on MAC addresses.
>
> For the implementation complexity point raised by Ales, it feels
> like the option 4 should not be hard to implement as a fairly
> standalone thing, as it doesn't impose side effects on any other
> port security entries.
>
> Best regards, Ilya Maximets.
>
>
Based on the discussion I will attempt to make the version 4
work in v3. Let's see how it goes.

Thanks,
Ales
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