I can't truly paste anything, because it freezes really hard, but I think the below is all that matters (and is all there is to reproduce it). On the console I do: # modprobe netconsole netconsole=@/,@/ (doesn't really matter, what I type in there, hangs with above command, too) Then I do: # ngrep eth0: Setting promiscuous mode. audit(blah:blah): dev=eth0 prom=256 old_prom=0 auid=blah protocol 0000 is buggy, dev eth0 And immediately the machine hangs. Works every time. I haven't tried with tcpdump/snort/anything else, but this is ngrep from yum (Extras IIRC). The kernel is 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5.
A new kernel update has been released (Version: 2.6.18-1.2200.fc5) based upon a new upstream kernel release. Please retest against this new kernel, as a large number of patches go into each upstream release, possibly including changes that may address this problem. This bug has been placed in NEEDINFO state. Due to the large volume of inactive bugs in bugzilla, if this bug is still in this state in two weeks time, it will be closed. Should this bug still be relevant after this period, the reporter can reopen the bug at any time. Any other users on the Cc: list of this bug can request that the bug be reopened by adding a comment to the bug. In the last few updates, some users upgrading from FC4->FC5 have reported that installing a kernel update has left their systems unbootable. If you have been affected by this problem please check you only have one version of device-mapper & lvm2 installed. See bug 207474 for further details. If this bug is a problem preventing you from installing the release this version is filed against, please see bug 169613. If this bug has been fixed, but you are now experiencing a different problem, please file a separate bug for the new problem. Thank you.
With 2.6.18-1.2200.fc5 (funny, "_FC" changed to ".fc") the kernel doesn't hang, hurray! Unfortunately, "protocol 0000 is buggy, dev eth0" messages appear, only this time 10 times in a row and also some "printk: 2 messages suppressed." after the first ngrep restart. I'm happy that it doesn't hang the kernel anymore, but I guess this issue isn't fixed entirely (as the kernel tells me that it's buggy) and I'm going to reopen it (or rather, "provide requested information").
Ok, I have a fix in hand for the protocol is buggy problem. It'll be in the next update.
should be fixed in 2.6.18-1.2239.fc5 now in updates.