Andy Roulin says:
====================
net: bridge: add stp_mode attribute for STP mode selection
The bridge-stp usermode helper is currently restricted to the initial
network namespace, preventing userspace STP daemons like mstpd from
operating on bridges in other namespaces. Since commit
ff62198553e4
("bridge: Only call /sbin/bridge-stp for the initial network
namespace"), bridges in non-init namespaces silently fall back to
kernel STP with no way to request userspace STP.
This series adds a new IFLA_BR_STP_MODE bridge attribute that allows
explicit per-bridge control over STP mode selection. Three modes are
supported:
- auto (default): existing behavior, try /sbin/bridge-stp in
init_net, fall back to kernel STP otherwise
- user: directly enable BR_USER_STP without invoking the helper,
works in any network namespace
- kernel: directly enable BR_KERNEL_STP without invoking the helper
The user and kernel modes bypass call_usermodehelper() entirely,
addressing the security concerns discussed at [1]. Userspace is
responsible for ensuring an STP daemon manages the bridge, rather
than relying on the kernel to invoke /sbin/bridge-stp.
Patch 1 adds the kernel support. The mode can only be changed while
STP is disabled and is processed before IFLA_BR_STP_STATE in
br_changelink() so both can be set atomically in a single netlink
message.
Patch 2 adds documentation for the new attribute in the bridge docs.
Patch 3 adds a selftest with 9 test cases. The test requires iproute2
with IFLA_BR_STP_MODE support and can be run with virtme-ng:
vng --run arch/x86/boot/bzImage --skip-modules \
--overlay-rwdir /sbin --overlay-rwdir /tmp --overlay-rwdir /bin \
--exec 'cp /path/to/iproute2-next/ip/ip /bin/ip && \
cd tools/testing/selftests/net && \
bash bridge_stp_mode.sh'
iproute2 support can be found here [2].
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/
565B7F7D.80208@nod.at/
[2] https://github.com/aroulin/iproute2-next/tree/bridge-stp-mode
====================
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260405205224.3163000-1-aroulin@nvidia.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>