VMware ESXi 6.0.0 [Releasebuild-3620759] host experiences a purple diagnostic screen after a virtual machine is stuck in a reboot loop

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After a period of time when a virtual machine is stuck on a reboot loop, you experience these symptoms:

• The ESXi 6.0.x host running the affected virtual machine fails with a purple diagnostic screen.
• The purple diagnostic screen contains entries similar to:
  
  Backtrace for current CPU #xx, worldID=xxxxx, rbp=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn][email protected]#1.0.0.0+0xe
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn][email protected]#v2_3_0_0+0x3e
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]IOChain_Resume@vmkernel#nover+0x210
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]PortOutput@vmkernel#nover+0xae
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]EtherswitchForwardLeafPortsQuick@<None>#<None>+0x136
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]EtherswitchPortDispatch@<None>#<None>+0x13bb
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Port_InputResume@vmkernel#nover+0x17b
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]Net_AcceptRxList@vmkernel#nover+0x115
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]NetPollWorldCallback@vmkernel#nover+0x12f
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]WorldletProcessQueue@vmkernel#nover+0x488
  0xnnnnnnnn:[0xnnnnnnnn]WorldletBHHandler@vmkernel#nover+0x60
  
  Note: For additional symptoms, see the Additional Information section.

Environment

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to race condition in dvfilter create/destroy events created by the virtual machine stuck in a reboot loop.

Resolution

This issue is resolved in VMware ESXi 6.0 Patch 04 (Build 4600944) and later releases

To work around this issue if you do not want to upgrade, power off the affected virtual machine.

Additional Information

You experience these additional symptoms:

• In the /var/log/vmkernel.log file of the affected ESXi host, you see entries similar to:
  
  2017-03-31T11:14:33.259Z cpu8:33688)WARNING: dvfilter-switch-security: SwSecDestroyFilter:471: nic-169199264-eth0-dvfilter-generic-vmware-swsec.1: Filter deleted: dvfg = 0x4309792a8f20 secFilter =
  2017-03-31T11:14:36.638Z cpu8:33688)WARNING: dvfilter-switch-security: SwSecCreateFilter:356: nic-169199264-eth0-dvfilter-generic-vmware-swsec.1: Filter created: dvfg = 0x4309792a8f20 secFilter = 0
  2017-03-31T11:14:36.638Z cpu8:33688)WARNING: dvfilter-switch-security: SwSecConfigFeatures:453: nic-169199264-eth0-dvfilter-generic-vmware-swsec.1: featuresEnabled = 0x4: Configured successfully
  
  Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.