Description of problem:

Well, basically iptables does nothing anymore. For example:

  [root@5571fd2b ~]# iptables -t mangle -F
  iptables: Too many levels of symbolic link

or 

  Try `iptables -h' or 'iptables --help' for more information.
  [root@5571fd2b ~]# iptables -L
  ERROR: 0 not a valid target)
  Aborted

This with a ruleset that I've used for around 4 years now :)

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

iptables-1.3.4-2.1

How reproducible:

Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. "iptables -t mangle -F" for example
  
Actual results:

The "iptables: Too many levels of symbolic links" error, or the "ERROR: 0 not a
valid target)" error.

Expected results:

In case of this example, flush the mangle table