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resizeVolume of a running system VM's volume is accepted but the VM never sees the new size #14645

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Description

@bhouse-nexthop

problem

A size-only resizeVolume of a running system VM's volume, for example a virtual router's ROOT, is accepted and resizes the volume on the storage. The running system VM is never told, so the guest keeps seeing the old size until it next starts. The API, the database and the storage all report the new size while the VM still runs on the old one.

VolumeApiServiceImpl.orchestrateResizeVolume only looks the VM up as a user VM (_userVmDao.findById). For a system VM that returns null, so the resize is sent with the instance name none and no host. On KVM the image is grown, but virsh blockresize is never run for the running domain. The per-hypervisor checks in the same method (XenServer can only resize a stopped VM's disk; on KVM the VM's host must be Up and Enabled) are skipped for the same reason.

Other paths already treat system VM volumes differently:

  • volume snapshots of system VM volumes are refused;
  • attach and detach accept only user VMs;
  • a ROOT resize through a new disk offering is refused unless the VM is Stopped.

The size-only path has no such check.

versions

4.22, and main.

The steps to reproduce the bug

Seen on KVM with Ceph RBD primary storage:

  1. Take a running virtual router whose ROOT disk offering is not size-strict.
  2. Call resizeVolume id=<router ROOT volume> size=<larger size in GB>.
  3. The call succeeds. listVolumes and rbd info show the new size.
  4. On the host, virsh domblkinfo <router> vda still shows the old size, and so does lsblk in the router. The new size only appears after the router is restarted.

What to do about it?

Refuse to resize the volume of a system VM that is not Stopped, with an error telling the admin to stop it first. Resizing it while it is stopped keeps working as before, and the VM sees the new size when it starts.

Doing the resize live instead would mean running the system VM's resize through the VM work queue and notifying the hypervisor, as is done for user VMs, and checking that on each hypervisor. Refusing is the smaller, safer change.

Activity

  1. added 2 commits that reference this issue on Nov 9, 2026
    c034c0b
    89fc218
  2. added this to the 4.22.3 milestone on Nov 11, 2026
  3. github-actions commented on Nov 11, 2026

    @github-actions

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    🎯 Triage report

    A size-only resizeVolume of a running system VM's volume succeeds, but the running VM never sees the new size. orchestrateResizeVolume looks the VM up only as a user VM, so for a system VM it sends the resize with no instance and skips the hypervisor checks. On KVM the image grows, but virsh blockresize is never run for the domain. The reporter proposes refusing the resize unless the system VM is stopped, which keeps the current stopped-VM behaviour.

    📊 Assessment

    Dimension Value Reasoning
    Type type:bug API reports success while the running VM is out of step with its volume
    Component component:kvm Reproduced on KVM; the resize path is in VolumeApiServiceImpl
    Severity Severity:Minor Guest sees the new size after restart; no data loss reported
    Labels type:bug, component:kvm, Severity:Minor
    Coding agent Suitable The proposed change (refuse unless stopped) is small and specific

    🔗 Similar issues

    💡 Notes and suggestions
    • Reproduction: resize the ROOT volume of a running virtual router, then compare virsh domblkinfo and lsblk in the router.
    • A maintainer should confirm refusing, rather than a live resize, is the intended behaviour.

    Generated by Daily Issue Triage · copilot · haiku55 · ~6 AIC · ⊞ 3.8K · ◷

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