The message comes from the kernel in net/sunrpc/svc.c with
RPC_PARANOIA turned on. Perhaps you have runt packets ...

I'm changing the component to kernel.

Here are some additional message... This time different codes:
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: short len 4, dropping request
svc: bad direction -589415150, dropping request

Here are some additional message... This time different codes:
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: short len 4, dropping request
svc: bad direction -589415150, dropping request

Here are some additional message... This time different codes:
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: short len 4, dropping request
svc: bad direction -589415150, dropping request

Here are some additional message... This time different codes:
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: short len 4, dropping request
svc: bad direction -589415150, dropping request

Here are some additional message... This time different codes:
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: bad direction 1217014802, dropping request
svc: short len 4, dropping request
svc: bad direction -589415150, dropping request

It lookes to be fixed in rawhide-release-19990907-1.noarch.rpm