RHEL6.6: kernel panic with error 'kernel BUG at drivers/ata/libata-sff.c:1455!'

Issue

• System crash followed by below call traces:

<3>BUG: scheduling while atomic: swapper/0/0x10010100
<4>Modules linked in: vsock(U) vmci(U) bridge stp llc vxodm(P)(U) nfsd lockd nfs_acl auth_rpcgss sunrpc autofs4 dmpinv(P)(U) dmpaa(P)(U) vxspec(P)(U) vxio(P)(U) vxdmp(P)(U) ipv6 vxportal(P)(U) fdd(P)(U) vxfs(P)(U) exportfs uinput ppdev parport_pc parport microcode vmware_balloon sg i2c_piix4 i2c_core shpchp ext4 jbd2 mbcache sd_mod crc_t10dif sr_mod cdrom vmxnet3 vmw_pvscsi pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod [last unloaded: vmci]
<4>CPU 0 
<4>Modules linked in: vsock(U) vmci(U) bridge stp llc vxodm(P)(U) nfsd lockd nfs_acl auth_rpcgss sunrpc autofs4 dmpinv(P)(U) dmpaa(P)(U) vxspec(P)(U) vxio(P)(U) vxdmp(P)(U) ipv6 vxportal(P)(U) fdd(P)(U) vxfs(P)(U) exportfs uinput ppdev parport_pc parport microcode vmware_balloon sg i2c_piix4 i2c_core shpchp ext4 jbd2 mbcache sd_mod crc_t10dif sr_mod cdrom vmxnet3 vmw_pvscsi pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod [last unloaded: vmci]
<4>
<4>Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: P           ---------------    2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64 #1 VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform
<4>RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff8107a893>]  [<ffffffff8107a893>] __do_softirq+0x73/0x1e0
<4>RSP: 0018:ffff880048203ee0  EFLAGS: 00000206
<4>RAX: 0000000000011440 RBX: ffff880048203f40 RCX: 0000000000000020
<4>RDX: ffffffff81a01fd8 RSI: 00000000000008ec RDI: 0000000000000380
<4>RBP: ffffffff8100b9d3 R08: ffff88004820e100 R09: 0000000000000000
<4>R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff880048203e60
<4>R13: ffffffffffffffff R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffffffff81a01fd8
<4>FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff880048200000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
<4>CS:  0010 DS: 0018 ES: 0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
<4>CR2: 0000000e33c47000 CR3: 0000000485a62000 CR4: 00000000000007f0
<4>DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
<4>DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
<4>Process swapper (pid: 0, threadinfo ffffffff81a00000, task ffffffff81a8d020)
<4>Stack:
<4> ffffffff810ac9ca ffff880048203f68 000000000000000a ffffffff81a01fd8
<4><d> ffffffff81a01fd8 0000000000011440 00157f7d56d58c23 0000000000000046
<4><d> ffffffff81a01fd8 0000000000000000 ffffffffffffffff ffffffff81de1000
<4>Call Trace:
<4> <IRQ> 
<4> [<ffffffff810ac9ca>] ? tick_program_event+0x2a/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100c30c>] ? call_softirq+0x1c/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100fa75>] ? do_softirq+0x65/0xa0
<4> [<ffffffff8107a795>] ? irq_exit+0x85/0x90
<4> [<ffffffff815310aa>] ? smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x4a/0x60
<4> [<ffffffff8100bb93>] ? apic_timer_interrupt+0x13/0x20
<4> <EOI> 
<4> [<ffffffff8103eacb>] ? native_safe_halt+0xb/0x10
<4> [<ffffffff810167bd>] ? default_idle+0x4d/0xb0
<4> [<ffffffff81009fc6>] ? cpu_idle+0xb6/0x110
<4> [<ffffffff8150cbea>] ? rest_init+0x7a/0x80
<4> [<ffffffff81c26f8f>] ? start_kernel+0x424/0x430
<4> [<ffffffff81c2633a>] ? x86_64_start_reservations+0x125/0x129
<4> [<ffffffff81c26453>] ? x86_64_start_kernel+0x115/0x124
<4>Code: 8b 55 c0 c7 45 b0 0a 00 00 00 48 89 45 c8 48 89 55 b8 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 65 c7 04 25 80 66 01 00 00 00 00 00 fb 66 0f 1f 44 00 00 <45> 31 ed 49 c7 c4 80 30 a8 81 eb 05 90 49 83 c4 08 f6 c3 01 74 
<4>Call Trace:
<4> <IRQ>  [<ffffffff810ac9ca>] ? tick_program_event+0x2a/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100c30c>] ? call_softirq+0x1c/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100fa75>] ? do_softirq+0x65/0xa0
<4> [<ffffffff8107a795>] ? irq_exit+0x85/0x90
<4> [<ffffffff815310aa>] ? smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x4a/0x60
<4> [<ffffffff8100bb93>] ? apic_timer_interrupt+0x13/0x20
<4> <EOI>  [<ffffffff8103eacb>] ? native_safe_halt+0xb/0x10
<4> [<ffffffff810167bd>] ? default_idle+0x4d/0xb0
<4> [<ffffffff81009fc6>] ? cpu_idle+0xb6/0x110
<4> [<ffffffff8150cbea>] ? rest_init+0x7a/0x80
<4> [<ffffffff81c26f8f>] ? start_kernel+0x424/0x430
<4> [<ffffffff81c2633a>] ? x86_64_start_reservations+0x125/0x129
<4> [<ffffffff81c26453>] ? x86_64_start_kernel+0x115/0x124
<4>------------[ cut here ]------------
<2>kernel BUG at drivers/ata/libata-sff.c:1455!
<4>invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP 
<4>last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:17.0/0000:13:00.0/local_cpus
<4>CPU 0 
<4>Modules linked in: vsock(U) vmci(U) bridge stp llc vxodm(P)(U) nfsd lockd nfs_acl auth_rpcgss sunrpc autofs4 dmpinv(P)(U) dmpaa(P)(U) vxspec(P)(U) vxio(P)(U) vxdmp(P)(U) ipv6 vxportal(P)(U) fdd(P)(U) vxfs(P)(U) exportfs uinput ppdev parport_pc parport microcode vmware_balloon sg i2c_piix4 i2c_core shpchp ext4 jbd2 mbcache sd_mod crc_t10dif sr_mod cdrom vmxnet3 vmw_pvscsi pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod [last unloaded: vmci]
<4>
<4>Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: P           ---------------    2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64 #1 VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop Reference Platform
<4>RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff813a77ad>]  [<ffffffff813a77ad>] ata_sff_hsm_move+0x13d/0x740
<4>RSP: 0018:ffff880048203ca0  EFLAGS: 00010097
<4>RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8808f23d9c60 RCX: 0000000000000000
<4>RDX: ffff8808f23d9d10 RSI: ffff8808f23d9c60 RDI: ffff8808f23d8000
<4>RBP: ffff880048203d00 R08: ffffffff81a00000 R09: ffff880048203ee0
<4>R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff8808f23d8000
<4>R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000018 R15: ffff8808f23d9d78
<4>FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff880048200000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
<4>CS:  0010 DS: 0018 ES: 0018 CR0: 000000008005003b
<4>CR2: 0000000e33c47000 CR3: 00000004621d9000 CR4: 00000000000007f0
<4>DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
<4>DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
<4>Process swapper (pid: 0, threadinfo ffffffff81a00000, task ffffffff81a8d020)
<4>Stack:
<4> 0000000000016840 00000002a70b5540 ffff8808ffc28400 ffff8808f3ba4410
<4><d> ffff8808f23d9d10 00000000f3ba4400 0000000000002e70 ffff8808f23d8000
<4><d> ffff8808f23d9c60 0000000000000000 0000000000000018 0000000000000000
<4>Call Trace:
<4> <IRQ> 
<4> [<ffffffff813a7fbd>] ata_sff_host_intr+0xbd/0x1a0
<4> [<ffffffff813a821e>] ata_sff_interrupt+0xce/0x110
<4> [<ffffffff810e6ec0>] handle_IRQ_event+0x60/0x170
<4> [<ffffffff810e981e>] handle_edge_irq+0xde/0x180
<4> [<ffffffff81059216>] ? enqueue_task+0x66/0x80
<4> [<ffffffff8100faf9>] handle_irq+0x49/0xa0
<4> [<ffffffff81065c5e>] ? try_to_wake_up+0x24e/0x3e0
<4> [<ffffffff81530fdc>] do_IRQ+0x6c/0xf0
<4> [<ffffffff8100b9d3>] ret_from_intr+0x0/0x11
<4> [<ffffffff8107a893>] ? __do_softirq+0x73/0x1e0
<4> [<ffffffff810ac9ca>] ? tick_program_event+0x2a/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100c30c>] ? call_softirq+0x1c/0x30
<4> [<ffffffff8100fa75>] ? do_softirq+0x65/0xa0
<4> [<ffffffff8107a795>] ? irq_exit+0x85/0x90
<4> [<ffffffff815310aa>] ? smp_apic_timer_interrupt+0x4a/0x60
<4> [<ffffffff8100bb93>] ? apic_timer_interrupt+0x13/0x20
<4> <EOI> 
<4> [<ffffffff8103eacb>] ? native_safe_halt+0xb/0x10
<4> [<ffffffff810167bd>] ? default_idle+0x4d/0xb0
<4> [<ffffffff81009fc6>] ? cpu_idle+0xb6/0x110
<4> [<ffffffff8150cbea>] ? rest_init+0x7a/0x80
<4> [<ffffffff81c26f8f>] ? start_kernel+0x424/0x430
<4> [<ffffffff81c2633a>] ? x86_64_start_reservations+0x125/0x129
<4> [<ffffffff81c26453>] ? x86_64_start_kernel+0x115/0x124
<4>Code: 89 f6 e8 b7 2b 18 00 eb 7c 80 e2 08 b8 01 00 00 00 0f 84 97 00 00 00 b8 01 00 00 00 e9 1e ff ff ff 83 f8 03 74 23 83 f8 04 74 40 <0f> 0b 90 eb fd 41 0f b6 d6 f6 c2 08 0f 85 c4 03 00 00 41 c7 84 
<1>RIP  [<ffffffff813a77ad>] ata_sff_hsm_move+0x13d/0x740
<4> RSP <ffff880048203ca0>