net: ipv6/addrconf: clamp preferred_lft to the minimum required

If the preferred lifetime was less than the minimum required lifetime,
ipv6_create_tempaddr would error out without creating any new address.
On my machine and network, this error happened immediately with the
preferred lifetime set to 5 seconds or less, after a few minutes with
the preferred lifetime set to 6 seconds, and not at all with the
preferred lifetime set to 7 seconds. During my investigation, I found a
Stack Exchange post from another person who seems to have had the same
problem: They stopped getting new addresses if they lowered the
preferred lifetime below 3 seconds, and they didn't really know why.

The preferred lifetime is a preference, not a hard requirement. The
kernel does not strictly forbid new connections on a deprecated address,
nor does it guarantee that the address will be disposed of the instant
its total valid lifetime expires. So rather than disable IPv6 privacy
extensions altogether if the minimum required lifetime swells above the
preferred lifetime, it is more in keeping with the user's intent to
increase the temporary address's lifetime to the minimum necessary for
the current network conditions.

With these fixes, setting the preferred lifetime to 5 or 6 seconds "just
works" because the extra fraction of a second is practically
unnoticeable. It's even possible to reduce the time before deprecation
to 1 or 2 seconds by setting /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/*/regen_min_advance
and /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/*/dad_transmits to 0. I realize that that is
a pretty niche use case, but I know at least one person who would gladly
sacrifice performance and convenience to be sure that they are getting
the maximum possible level of privacy.

Link: https://serverfault.com/a/1031168/310447
Signed-off-by: Alex Henrie <alexhenrie24@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: David Ahern <dsahern@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>

1 files changed, 1 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
index 407d917d1a36..bd50df6a5a42 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.rst
@@ -2511,7 +2511,7 @@ temp_valid_lft - INTEGER
 temp_prefered_lft - INTEGER
 	Preferred lifetime (in seconds) for temporary addresses. If
 	temp_prefered_lft is less than the minimum required lifetime (typically
-	5-7 seconds), temporary addresses will not be created. If
+	5-7 seconds), the preferred lifetime is the minimum required. If
 	temp_prefered_lft is greater than temp_valid_lft, the preferred lifetime
 	is temp_valid_lft.