Virtual machine reports a "BUG: soft lockup" (or multiple at the same time)

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • Virtual machine guest suffers multiple soft lockups at the same time
  • We are experiencing kernel panic due to softlockup.
  • Logs show messages like (examples from different sources):

    BUG: soft lockup - CPU#6 stuck for 73s! [flush-253:0:1207]
    BUG: soft lockup - CPU#7 stuck for 74s! [processname:15706]
    BUG: soft lockup - CPU#5 stuck for 63s! [processname:25582]
    BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 64s! [proceessname:15789]
    
    --or--
    
    <time> <hostname> kernel: NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#6 stuck for 25s! [ksoftirqd/6:38]
    <time> <hostname> kernel: NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#7 stuck for 22s! [ksoftirqd/7:43]
    <time> <hostname> kernel: NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#7 stuck for 24s! [NetworkManager:945]
    <time> <hostname> kernel: NMI watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#7 stuck for 22s! [watchdog/7:41]  
    

    The following line may (or not) also be logged:

    hrtimer: interrupt took NUMBER ns
    

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (any version)
  • Virtual machine

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase, tools, and much more.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In

New to Red Hat?

Learn more about Red Hat subscriptions

Using a Red Hat product through a public cloud?

How to access this content