Host may crash by loading qfle3 driver with an arbitrary debug_mask value

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When driver is loaded with debug_mask=-1, all debug flags will be turned on, thus log spew occurs in datapath, especially the tx datapath.
• Log spew can slow down ESXi and block TLB flush. It could slow down system after turning on full driver debug log, and the log spew may cause ESXi crash.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

This is a known issue.

Currently, there is no resolution.

Workaround:
Command debug_mask is only for debug purpose. So, as long as debug_mask is set this value to -1, it will not create this problem.

1. If this issue occurs, set the driver debug_mask to 0.

#esxcli system module parameters set -m qfle3 -p "debug_mask=0"

2. Reboot the host.