Subject: Re: [regression] Network failure beyond first connection after 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit: update the count if add was skipped")

From: Florian Westphal <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2026 20:25:36 +0100

Fernando Fernandez Mancera <[email-masked]> wrote:
> On 3/14/26 5:13 PM, Fernando Fernandez Mancera wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > On 3/14/26 3:03 PM, Salvatore Bonaccorso wrote:
> > > Control: forwarded -1
> > > https://lore.kernel.org/ regressions/[email-masked]
> > > Control: tags -1 + upstream
> > > 
> > > Hi
> > > 
> > > In Debian, in https://bugs.debian.org/1130336, Alejandro reported that
> > > after updates including 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit:
> > > update the count if add was skipped"), when the following rule is set
> > > 
> > >     iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m
> > > connlimit --connlimit-above 111 -j
> > > REJECT --reject-with tcp-reset
> > > 
> > > connections get stuck accordingly, it can be easily reproduced by:
> > > 
> > > # iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m connlimit
> > > --connlimit-above 111 -j REJECT
> > > --reject-with tcp-reset
> > > # nft list ruleset
> > > # Warning: table ip filter is managed by iptables-nft, do not touch!
> > > table ip filter {
> > >          chain INPUT {
> > >                  type filter hook input priority filter; policy accept;
> > >                  ip protocol tcp xt
> > > match "connlimit" counter packets 0
> > > bytes 0 reject with tcp reset
> > >          }
> > > }
> > > # wget -O /dev/null
> > > https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-7.0-
> > > rc3.tar.gz
> > > --2026-03-14 14:53:51-- 
> > > https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-7.0-
> > > rc3.tar.gz
> > > Resolving git.kernel.org
> > > (git.kernel.org)... 172.105.64.184,
> > > 2a01:7e01:e001:937:0:1991:8:25
> > > Connecting to git.kernel.org
> > > (git.kernel.org)|172.105.64.184|:443...
> > > connected.
> > > HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 301 Moved Permanently
> > > Location: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/
> > > linux.git/snapshot/linux-7.0-rc3.tar.gz
> > > [following]
> > > --2026-03-14 14:53:51-- 
> > > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/ git/torvalds/linux.git/snapshot/linux-7.0-rc3.tar.gz
> > > Reusing existing connection to git.kernel.org:443.
> > > HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
> > > Length: unspecified [application/x-gzip]
> > > Saving to: ‘/dev/null’
> > > 
> > > /dev/null                         [
> > > <=>                    ] 248.03M 
> > > 51.9MB/s    in 5.0s
> > > 
> > > 2026-03-14 14:53:56 (49.3 MB/s) - ‘/dev/null’ saved [260080129]
> > > 
> > > # wget -O /dev/null
> > > https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-7.0-
> > > rc3.tar.gz
> > > --2026-03-14 14:53:58-- 
> > > https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-7.0-
> > > rc3.tar.gz
> > > Resolving git.kernel.org
> > > (git.kernel.org)... 172.105.64.184,
> > > 2a01:7e01:e001:937:0:1991:8:25
> > > Connecting to git.kernel.org
> > > (git.kernel.org)|172.105.64.184|:443...
> > > failed: Connection timed out.
> > > Connecting to git.kernel.org
> > > (git.kernel.org)|
> > > 2a01:7e01:e001:937:0:1991:8:25|:443...
> > > failed: Network is unreachable.
> > > 
> > > Before the 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit: update the count
> > > if add was skipped") commit this worked.
> > > 
> > 
> > Thanks for the report. I have reproduced
> > this on upstream kernel. I am working on it.
> > 
> 
> This is what is happening:
> 
> 1. The first connection is established and
> tracked, all good. When it finishes, it goes to
> TIME_WAIT state
> 2. The second connection is established, ct is
> confirmed since the beginning, skipping the
> tracking and calling a GC.
> 3. The previously tracked connection is cleaned
> up during GC as TIME_WAIT is considered closed.

This is stupid.  The fix is to add --syn or use
OUTPUT.  Its not even clear to me what the user wants to achive with this rule.

> +static inline bool tcp_syn_sent_or_recv(const struct nf_conn *conn)
> +{
> +	if (nf_ct_protonum(conn) == IPPROTO_TCP)
> +		return conn->proto.tcp.state == TCP_CONNTRACK_SYN_SENT ||
> +		       conn->proto.tcp.state == TCP_CONNTRACK_SYN_RECV;
> +	else
> +		return false;
> +}

We're adding ever more complex checks in the conncount backend.
I don't like any of the solutions.

What about reverting the offending commit, at least for tree_count?
That way it continues to work as it did in the past.