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#1 2008-09-23 15:36:00

JimboP
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2005-01-14
Posts: 22

e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

Just seen this on openSUSE:
http://news.opensuse.org/2008/09/22/ser … 11-beta-1/

Depending on kernel versions this could be a problem for Arch?

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#2 2008-09-23 15:51:37

andre.ramaciotti
Member
From: Brazil
Registered: 2007-04-06
Posts: 649

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

It's related to kernel 2.6.27, which is still a release candidate.

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ … 2.6.27-rc7
Then search for e1000

Apparently, it was corrected.


(lambda ())

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#3 2008-09-26 00:32:33

judfilm
Member
Registered: 2004-02-12
Posts: 229

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

Definitely a warning to the bleeding-edge/early-adopter crowd

Another report:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n … &px=Njc0Nw

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#4 2008-09-26 06:43:08

dhave
Arch Linux f@h Team Member
From: Outside the matrix.
Registered: 2005-05-15
Posts: 1,112

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

This is probably something worth doing if you're susceptible to this bug:

If you do have the affected hardware, we (and Intel) recommend you immediately back up your EEPROM data, using the following command as root:

ethtool -e ethX > savemyeep.txt

Where ethX is the affected interface. Usually it will be eth0. This will save the EEPROM data to the savemyeep.txt file. Keep this file safe. If you were subsequently to have the problem occur, we can then assist you in restoring the data from this backup file.

This is from the Mandriva notification regarding this bug in the Mandriva "Official Blog."

The utility ethtool can be installed via pacman.

Earlier reports raised the possibility that the bug might affect kernels older than 2.6.27, but I think those warnings have been lifted now.


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Tired? There's a nap for that. --anonymous

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#5 2008-10-05 17:15:57

dhave
Arch Linux f@h Team Member
From: Outside the matrix.
Registered: 2005-05-15
Posts: 1,112

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

Does anybody have an update on this apparent bug? I checked the 2.6.27-rc8, -rc7, and -rc6 changelogs at www.kernel.org, and in the -rc7 changelog I found a reference to a NVRAM corruption fix related to the e1000 driver, but I don't believe that this is the same bug. IINM, the bug discussed in this thread is related to the e1000e driver.

Here's the 2.6.27-rc7 changelog item for the e1000 bug:

commit 78566fecbb12a7616ae9a88b2ffbc8062c4a89e3
Author: Christopher Li <chrisl@vmware.com>
Date:   Fri Sep 5 14:04:05 2008 -0700

    e1000: prevent corruption of EEPROM/NVM
   
    Andrey reports e1000 corruption, and that a patch in vmware's ESX fixed
    it.
   
    The EEPROM corruption is triggered by concurrent access of the EEPROM
    read/write. Putting a lock around it solve the problem.


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#6 2008-10-05 17:42:50

Dieter@be
Forum Fellow
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-11-05
Posts: 2,000
Website

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

dhave, I read somewhere they fixed it in the latest rc.  So your entry is probably the one.


< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
4 8 15 16 23 42

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#7 2008-10-05 19:28:52

dhave
Arch Linux f@h Team Member
From: Outside the matrix.
Registered: 2005-05-15
Posts: 1,112

Re: e1000e driver can damage Intel network cards

Dieter@be wrote:

dhave, I read somewhere they fixed it in the latest rc.  So your entry is probably the one.

Hmm, I'm thinking maybe not.

Here's what appears to be good news, though, assuming write-protecting the NVRAM is the fix we're wanting:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/g … bee3f9b3a7

This was just committed on 2 Oct 2008, and, since there hasn't been another actual RC, I don't believe the fix is in place outside of git.

To be more precise: judging by the release dates, it looks as if 2.6.27-rc8, released on 29 Sept. 08, would not have this fix, but that 2.6.27 kernel snapshots since Thu, 2 Oct 2008 00:31:25 +0000 (17:31 -0700) would include the fix.

The commit log here confirms this (search for "e1000e: write protect ICHx NVM to prevent malicious write/erase").

So, I'm guessing that 2.6.27-rc9 should include the fix, unless it gets pulled for some reason prior to release.

I'm largely in unfamiliar territory here (access to information does not equal expertise), so if someone who's got a better grasp of this wants to verify (or not), that would be welcome.

Last edited by dhave (2008-10-05 21:22:51)


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