Bug#933967: Predictable interface names results in forced deauth of certain usb wifi adapters

[Kathryn Tolsen]

package: systemd

I had first observed this issue with Stretch and my Netgear WG111v3
(RTL8168B chipset) using the rtl8168 driver over a year ago, and had a
rough time running down the culprit and had discovered that disabling
predictable ifnames with net.ifnames=0 resolved the issue.

Last night in #debian on freenode, a user came in with issues with a
completely different device using a different driver and the problem had
seemed familiar, and I recommended disabling the predictable ifnames, and
it resolved their issue as well.

Information from this recent issue on Buster is as follows:

lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 008: ID 148f:5372 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5372 Wireless
Adapter

dmesg:
ieee80211 phy1: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Loading firmware file
'rt2870.bin'
rt2800usb 1-1:1.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware rt2870.bin
ieee80211 phy1: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Firmware detected -
version: 0.36

usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=5372, bcdDevice=
1.01
usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 1-1: Product: 802.11 n WLAN
usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Ralink

wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticate with 90:4c:81:01:76:00
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: send auth to 90:4c:81:01:76:00 (try 1/3)
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticated
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticate with 90:4c:81:01:76:00
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: send auth to 90:4c:81:01:76:00 (try 1/3)
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticated
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticate with 90:4c:81:01:76:00
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: send auth to 90:4c:81:01:76:00 (try 1/3)
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: authenticated
wlx9cefd5fdf30b: aborting authentication with 90:4c:81:01:76:00 by local
choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlx9cefd5fdf30b: link is not ready
IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlx9cefd5fdf30b: link is not ready

I am not sure where the problem lies.. in the kernel, firmware, systemd,
udev.. idk.. but I'd had the same symptoms before with the Netgear adapter
and rtl8168 where it would list APs attempt to connect, authenticate then
forcibly deauth citing Reason 3, DEAUTH_LEAVING and say the link was not
ready..

I had spent hours trying to figure it out when I came across an obscure
post online that suggested it was a firmware bug related to predictable
ifnames, and after disabling them and that resolving my issue I had ignored
it as an obscure bug not likely to affect many users.

Now however I am realizing that whatever this issue is, its far more
widespread than I thought and is possibly more central and less related to
specific adapters. Since we are now using systemd/udev predictable ifnames
by default I figured this was something we need to run down.

If I can provide any more information on the subject, please let me know as
I do still have the Netgear WG111v3 adapter that I know causes this issue.
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