[PATCH] lib/ethdev: fix segfault in secondary process by validating dev_private pointer

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:30:41 +0500
Khadem Ullah <14pwcse1224 at uetpeshawar.edu.pk> wrote:

> Hi Stephen,
> Can we add only the check that fixes the segfault, or do you mean that it
> should be fixed at the PMD level?
> 
> Best regards,
> Khadem
> 
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 18:39 Stephen Hemminger <stephen at networkplumber.org>
> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:54:39 -0400
> > Khadem Ullah <14pwcse1224 at uetpeshawar.edu.pk> wrote:
> >  
> > > +     if (rte_eal_process_type() == RTE_PROC_SECONDARY &&
> > > +             (dev == NULL || dev->data == NULL ||
> > > +             dev->data->dev_private == NULL ||  
> >
> > dev can't be NULL and checking it here will cause a Coverity warning.
> >
> > There are many other ethdev calls that will fail if primary dies.
> > stats, xstats, rx/tx burst, ...
> >
> > I don't think it is good idea to add checks here.
> >  

It needs to be fixed at the documentation level.
Make sure and document what applications need to do. Rather than adding
more checks in ethdev.