The host system is a Fedora Workstation 44, fully up-to-date. It has been working fine for a couple of years. Podman is installed and used daily, rootless exclusively. I also use Gnome Boxes to manage a few virtual machines. One of them has been created a while ago and is being used regularly (mostly to run Ansible against remote machines), it is running Fedora Server 44. This setup has been running like a charm for years.
Until very recently, at least…
Today, I had to run a task from the virtual machine. All podman pods and containers were stopped. The VM started fine, but I could not ssh it. I logged in from the Gnome Boxes UI and noticed the network interface was disconnected:
As far as I remember, nothing had been changed into that VM, and I’m fairly confident I never touched any network configuration, as everything was just working as expected.
Back to the host system, I didn’t find any error in the QEMU logs and all entries look very similar (even the ones from over a year ago):
2026-08-28 14:48:09.132+0000: starting up libvirt version: 12.0.0, package: 3.fc44 (Fedora Project, 2026-01-26-10:19:53, ), qemu version: 10.2.2qemu-10.2.2-1.fc44, kernel: 7.1.10-200.fc44.x86_64, hostname: fedora
LC_ALL=C \
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/home/bmenant/.local/bin \
HOME=/home/bmenant \
USER=bmenant \
LOGNAME=bmenant \
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain-2-fedora41-ser/.cache \
/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
-name guest=fedora41-ser,debug-threads=on \
-S \
-object '{"qom-type":"secret","id":"masterKey0","format":"raw","file":"/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain-2-fedora41-ser/master-key.aes"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-format","read-only":true,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","backing":null}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/nvram/fedora41-ser_VARS.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","backing":null}' \
-machine pc-q35-9.1,usb=off,smm=on,dump-guest-core=off,memory-backend=pc.ram,pflash0=libvirt-pflash0-format,pflash1=libvirt-pflash1-format,hpet=off,acpi=on \
-accel kvm \
-cpu host,migratable=on \
-global driver=cfi.pflash01,property=secure,value=on \
-m size=3879936k \
-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":3973054464}' \
-overcommit mem-lock=off \
-smp 8,sockets=1,dies=1,clusters=1,cores=8,threads=1 \
-uuid 44bca24d-757f-4f9d-9c11-0b1476684585 \
-no-user-config \
-nodefaults \
-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,fd=24,server=on,wait=off \
-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control \
-rtc base=localtime,driftfix=slew \
-global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=delay \
-no-shutdown \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s3=1 \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s4=1 \
-boot menu=on,strict=on \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":16,"chassis":1,"id":"pci.1","bus":"pcie.0","multifunction":true,"addr":"0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":17,"chassis":2,"id":"pci.2","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":18,"chassis":3,"id":"pci.3","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":19,"chassis":4,"id":"pci.4","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":20,"chassis":5,"id":"pci.5","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x4"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":21,"chassis":6,"id":"pci.6","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x5"}' \
-device '{"driver":"qemu-xhci","p2":15,"p3":15,"id":"usb","bus":"pci.2","addr":"0x0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-serial-pci","id":"virtio-serial0","bus":"pci.3","addr":"0x0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"usb-ccid","id":"ccid0","bus":"usb.0","port":"1"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/home/bmenant/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/fedora41-ser","node-name":"libvirt-2-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap","cache":{"direct":false,"no-flush":false}}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-2-format","read-only":false,"discard":"unmap","cache":{"direct":false,"no-flush":false},"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-2-storage","backing":null}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-blk-pci","bus":"pci.4","addr":"0x0","drive":"libvirt-2-format","id":"virtio-disk0","bootindex":1,"write-cache":"on"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ide-cd","bus":"ide.2","id":"sata0-0-2"}' \
-netdev '{"type":"tap","fd":"27","vhost":true,"vhostfd":"25","id":"hostnet0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-net-pci","netdev":"hostnet0","id":"net0","mac":"52:54:00:78:8b:63","bus":"pci.1","addr":"0x0"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charsmartcard0,name=smartcard \
-device '{"driver":"ccid-card-passthru","chardev":"charsmartcard0","id":"smartcard0","bus":"ccid0.0"}' \
-chardev pty,id=charserial0 \
-device '{"driver":"isa-serial","chardev":"charserial0","id":"serial0","index":0}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel0,name=vdagent \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":1,"chardev":"charchannel0","id":"channel0","name":"com.redhat.spice.0"}' \
-chardev spiceport,id=charchannel1,name=org.spice-space.webdav.0 \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":2,"chardev":"charchannel1","id":"channel1","name":"org.spice-space.webdav.0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"usb-tablet","id":"input0","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}' \
-audiodev '{"id":"audio1","driver":"spice"}' \
-spice port=0,disable-ticketing=on,image-compression=off,seamless-migration=on \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-vga","id":"video0","max_outputs":1,"bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ich9-intel-hda","id":"sound0","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1b"}' \
-device '{"driver":"hda-duplex","id":"sound0-codec0","bus":"sound0.0","cad":0,"audiodev":"audio1"}' \
-global ICH9-LPC.noreboot=off \
-watchdog-action reset \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir0,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir0","id":"redir0","bus":"usb.0","port":"3"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir1,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir1","id":"redir1","bus":"usb.0","port":"4"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir2,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir2","id":"redir2","bus":"usb.0","port":"5"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir3,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir3","id":"redir3","bus":"usb.0","port":"6"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-balloon-pci","id":"balloon0","bus":"pci.5","addr":"0x0"}' \
-sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny \
-msg timestamp=on
char device redirected to /dev/pts/0 (label charserial0)
2026-08-28T15:33:28.498920Z qemu-system-x86_64: terminating on signal 15 from pid 7819 (<unknown process>)
2026-08-28 15:33:28.725+0000: shutting down, reason=shutdown
2026-08-28 15:40:47.133+0000: starting up libvirt version: 12.0.0, package: 3.fc44 (Fedora Project, 2026-01-26-10:19:53, ), qemu version: 10.2.2qemu-10.2.2-1.fc44, kernel: 7.1.10-200.fc44.x86_64, hostname: fedora
LC_ALL=C \
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/home/bmenant/.local/bin:/home/bmenant/.local/bin \
HOME=/home/bmenant \
USER=bmenant \
LOGNAME=bmenant \
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain-1-fedora41-ser/.cache \
/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 \
-name guest=fedora41-ser,debug-threads=on \
-S \
-object '{"qom-type":"secret","id":"masterKey0","format":"raw","file":"/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/lib/domain-1-fedora41-ser/master-key.aes"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash0-format","read-only":true,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash0-storage","backing":null}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/nvram/fedora41-ser_VARS.qcow2","node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap"}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-pflash1-format","read-only":false,"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-pflash1-storage","backing":null}' \
-machine pc-q35-9.1,usb=off,smm=on,dump-guest-core=off,memory-backend=pc.ram,pflash0=libvirt-pflash0-format,pflash1=libvirt-pflash1-format,hpet=off,acpi=on \
-accel kvm \
-cpu host,migratable=on \
-global driver=cfi.pflash01,property=secure,value=on \
-m size=3879936k \
-object '{"qom-type":"memory-backend-ram","id":"pc.ram","size":3973054464}' \
-overcommit mem-lock=off \
-smp 8,sockets=1,dies=1,clusters=1,cores=8,threads=1 \
-uuid 44bca24d-757f-4f9d-9c11-0b1476684585 \
-no-user-config \
-nodefaults \
-chardev socket,id=charmonitor,fd=24,server=on,wait=off \
-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control \
-rtc base=localtime,driftfix=slew \
-global kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=delay \
-no-shutdown \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s3=1 \
-global ICH9-LPC.disable_s4=1 \
-boot menu=on,strict=on \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":16,"chassis":1,"id":"pci.1","bus":"pcie.0","multifunction":true,"addr":"0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":17,"chassis":2,"id":"pci.2","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":18,"chassis":3,"id":"pci.3","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x2"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":19,"chassis":4,"id":"pci.4","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x3"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":20,"chassis":5,"id":"pci.5","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x4"}' \
-device '{"driver":"pcie-root-port","port":21,"chassis":6,"id":"pci.6","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x2.0x5"}' \
-device '{"driver":"qemu-xhci","p2":15,"p3":15,"id":"usb","bus":"pci.2","addr":"0x0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-serial-pci","id":"virtio-serial0","bus":"pci.3","addr":"0x0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"usb-ccid","id":"ccid0","bus":"usb.0","port":"1"}' \
-blockdev '{"driver":"file","filename":"/home/bmenant/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/fedora41-ser","node-name":"libvirt-2-storage","auto-read-only":true,"discard":"unmap","cache":{"direct":false,"no-flush":false}}' \
-blockdev '{"node-name":"libvirt-2-format","read-only":false,"discard":"unmap","cache":{"direct":false,"no-flush":false},"driver":"qcow2","file":"libvirt-2-storage","backing":null}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-blk-pci","bus":"pci.4","addr":"0x0","drive":"libvirt-2-format","id":"virtio-disk0","bootindex":1,"write-cache":"on"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ide-cd","bus":"ide.2","id":"sata0-0-2"}' \
-netdev '{"type":"tap","fd":"27","vhost":true,"vhostfd":"25","id":"hostnet0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-net-pci","netdev":"hostnet0","id":"net0","mac":"52:54:00:78:8b:63","bus":"pci.1","addr":"0x0"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charsmartcard0,name=smartcard \
-device '{"driver":"ccid-card-passthru","chardev":"charsmartcard0","id":"smartcard0","bus":"ccid0.0"}' \
-chardev pty,id=charserial0 \
-device '{"driver":"isa-serial","chardev":"charserial0","id":"serial0","index":0}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charchannel0,name=vdagent \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":1,"chardev":"charchannel0","id":"channel0","name":"com.redhat.spice.0"}' \
-chardev spiceport,id=charchannel1,name=org.spice-space.webdav.0 \
-device '{"driver":"virtserialport","bus":"virtio-serial0.0","nr":2,"chardev":"charchannel1","id":"channel1","name":"org.spice-space.webdav.0"}' \
-device '{"driver":"usb-tablet","id":"input0","bus":"usb.0","port":"2"}' \
-audiodev '{"id":"audio1","driver":"spice"}' \
-spice port=0,disable-ticketing=on,image-compression=off,seamless-migration=on \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-vga","id":"video0","max_outputs":1,"bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1"}' \
-device '{"driver":"ich9-intel-hda","id":"sound0","bus":"pcie.0","addr":"0x1b"}' \
-device '{"driver":"hda-duplex","id":"sound0-codec0","bus":"sound0.0","cad":0,"audiodev":"audio1"}' \
-global ICH9-LPC.noreboot=off \
-watchdog-action reset \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir0,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir0","id":"redir0","bus":"usb.0","port":"3"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir1,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir1","id":"redir1","bus":"usb.0","port":"4"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir2,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir2","id":"redir2","bus":"usb.0","port":"5"}' \
-chardev spicevmc,id=charredir3,name=usbredir \
-device '{"driver":"usb-redir","chardev":"charredir3","id":"redir3","bus":"usb.0","port":"6"}' \
-device '{"driver":"virtio-balloon-pci","id":"balloon0","bus":"pci.5","addr":"0x0"}' \
-sandbox on,obsolete=deny,elevateprivileges=deny,spawn=deny,resourcecontrol=deny \
-msg timestamp=on
char device redirected to /dev/pts/1 (label charserial0)
------------------------------------------------------------
Here comes the libvirt domain config:
<domain type="kvm" id="1">
<name>fedora41-ser</name>
<uuid>44bca24d-757f-4f9d-9c11-0b1476684585</uuid>
<title>Ansible (F44)</title>
<metadata>
<boxes:gnome-boxes xmlns:boxes="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Boxes">
<os-state>installed</os-state>
<media-id>http://fedoraproject.org/fedora/41:2</media-id>
<media>/home/bmenant/Downloads/Fedora-Server-netinst-x86_64-41-1.4.iso</media>
</boxes:gnome-boxes>
<libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
<libosinfo:os id="http://fedoraproject.org/fedora/41"/>
</libosinfo:libosinfo>
<edited:edited xmlns:edited="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Boxes/edited">2026-08-28T13:11:30+0200</edited:edited>
</metadata>
<memory unit="KiB">3879936</memory>
<currentMemory unit="KiB">3879732</currentMemory>
<vcpu placement="static">8</vcpu>
<os firmware="efi">
<type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-9.1">hvm</type>
<firmware>
<feature enabled="yes" name="enrolled-keys"/>
<feature enabled="yes" name="secure-boot"/>
</firmware>
<loader readonly="yes" secure="yes" type="pflash" format="qcow2">/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_CODE_4M.secboot.qcow2</loader>
<nvram template="/usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_VARS_4M.secboot.qcow2" templateFormat="qcow2" format="qcow2">/home/bmenant/.config/libvirt/qemu/nvram/fedora41-ser_VARS.qcow2</nvram>
<boot dev="hd"/>
<bootmenu enable="yes"/>
</os>
<features>
<acpi/>
<apic/>
<smm state="on"/>
</features>
<cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="on">
<topology sockets="1" dies="1" clusters="1" cores="8" threads="1"/>
</cpu>
<clock offset="localtime">
<timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
<timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
<timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
</clock>
<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
<on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
<pm>
<suspend-to-mem enabled="no"/>
<suspend-to-disk enabled="no"/>
</pm>
<devices>
<emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
<disk type="file" device="disk">
<driver name="qemu" type="qcow2" cache="writeback" discard="unmap"/>
<source file="/home/bmenant/.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/fedora41-ser" index="2"/>
<backingStore/>
<target dev="vda" bus="virtio"/>
<alias name="virtio-disk0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x04" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
</disk>
<disk type="file" device="cdrom">
<driver name="qemu"/>
<target dev="hdc" bus="sata"/>
<readonly/>
<alias name="sata0-0-2"/>
<address type="drive" controller="0" bus="0" target="0" unit="2"/>
</disk>
<controller type="usb" index="0" model="qemu-xhci" ports="15">
<alias name="usb"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
</controller>
<controller type="sata" index="0">
<alias name="ide"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root">
<alias name="pcie.0"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="1" port="0x10"/>
<alias name="pci.1"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="2" port="0x11"/>
<alias name="pci.2"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x1"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="3" port="0x12"/>
<alias name="pci.3"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x2"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="4" port="0x13"/>
<alias name="pci.4"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x3"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="5" port="0x14"/>
<alias name="pci.5"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x4"/>
</controller>
<controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
<model name="pcie-root-port"/>
<target chassis="6" port="0x15"/>
<alias name="pci.6"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x5"/>
</controller>
<controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
<alias name="virtio-serial0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x03" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
</controller>
<controller type="ccid" index="0">
<alias name="ccid0"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="1"/>
</controller>
<interface type="bridge">
<mac address="52:54:00:78:8b:63"/>
<source bridge="virbr0"/>
<target dev="tap0"/>
<model type="virtio"/>
<alias name="net0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
</interface>
<smartcard mode="passthrough" type="spicevmc">
<alias name="smartcard0"/>
<address type="ccid" controller="0" slot="0"/>
</smartcard>
<serial type="pty">
<source path="/dev/pts/1"/>
<target type="isa-serial" port="0">
<model name="isa-serial"/>
</target>
<alias name="serial0"/>
</serial>
<console type="pty" tty="/dev/pts/1">
<source path="/dev/pts/1"/>
<target type="serial" port="0"/>
<alias name="serial0"/>
</console>
<channel type="spicevmc">
<target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0" state="disconnected"/>
<alias name="channel0"/>
<address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
</channel>
<channel type="spiceport">
<source channel="org.spice-space.webdav.0"/>
<target type="virtio" name="org.spice-space.webdav.0" state="connected"/>
<alias name="channel1"/>
<address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="2"/>
</channel>
<input type="tablet" bus="usb">
<alias name="input0"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="2"/>
</input>
<input type="mouse" bus="ps2">
<alias name="input1"/>
</input>
<input type="keyboard" bus="ps2">
<alias name="input2"/>
</input>
<graphics type="spice">
<listen type="none"/>
<image compression="off"/>
<gl enable="no"/>
</graphics>
<sound model="ich9">
<alias name="sound0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1b" function="0x0"/>
</sound>
<audio id="1" type="spice"/>
<video>
<model type="virtio" heads="1" primary="yes">
<acceleration accel3d="no"/>
</model>
<alias name="video0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x01" function="0x0"/>
</video>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
<alias name="redir0"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="3"/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
<alias name="redir1"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="4"/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
<alias name="redir2"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="5"/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
<alias name="redir3"/>
<address type="usb" bus="0" port="6"/>
</redirdev>
<watchdog model="itco" action="reset">
<alias name="watchdog0"/>
</watchdog>
<memballoon model="virtio">
<alias name="balloon0"/>
<address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x05" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
</memballoon>
</devices>
<seclabel type="dynamic" model="selinux" relabel="yes">
<label>unconfined_u:unconfined_r:svirt_t:s0:c359,c429</label>
<imagelabel>unconfined_u:object_r:svirt_image_t:s0:c359,c429</imagelabel>
</seclabel>
</domain>
Here comes some more info about the virtual network state:
$ sudo virsh iface-list
Name State MAC Address
-------------------------------------------
enp0s13f0u2 active 3c:18:a0:17:9c:93
virbr0 active 52:54:00:5d:4b:38
$ sudo virsh net-info default
Name: default
UUID: edfc78a8-7414-4ea0-841b-ac20405df94a
Active: yes
Persistent: yes
Autostart: yes
Bridge: virbr0
$ sudo virsh net-dhcp-leases default
Expiry Time MAC address Protocol IP address Hostname Client ID or DUID
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ sudo virsh net-dumpxml default
<network>
<name>default</name>
<uuid>edfc78a8-7414-4ea0-841b-ac20405df94a</uuid>
<forward mode='nat'>
<nat>
<port start='1024' end='65535'/>
</nat>
</forward>
<bridge name='virbr0' stp='on' delay='0'/>
<mac address='52:54:00:5d:4b:38'/>
<ip address='192.168.124.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
<dhcp>
<range start='192.168.124.2' end='192.168.124.254'/>
</dhcp>
</ip>
</network>
$ ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp0s13f0u2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
link/ether 3c:18:a0:17:9c:93 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enx3c18a0179c93
inet 192.168.1.12/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute enp0s13f0u2
valid_lft 81302sec preferred_lft 81302sec
inet6 2a01:cb0c:6d9:2200:aa3c:21a3:3822:d700/64 scope global dynamic noprefixroute
valid_lft 86346sec preferred_lft 546sec
inet6 2a01:cb0c:6d9:2202:f0d0:229:30eb:542/64 scope global dynamic noprefixroute
valid_lft 86324sec preferred_lft 524sec
inet6 fe80::abbe:cc93:ce23:c3b1/64 scope link noprefixroute
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlp170s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether f6:ad:5c:82:01:ff brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff permaddr 74:3a:f4:34:22:f4
altname wlx743af43422f4
4: virbr0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc htb state UP group default qlen 1000
link/ether 52:54:00:5d:4b:38 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 192.168.124.1/24 brd 192.168.124.255 scope global virbr0
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
5: tap0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel master virbr0 state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/ether fe:31:c3:3a:6d:25 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet6 fe80::fc31:c3ff:fe3a:6d25/64 scope link proto kernel_ll
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
As far as I can tell, everything looks good… except that the guest fails to acquire an IP address from the host libvirt DHCP service.
I tried to create a new VM: same issue occured.
At first, I thought this issue was due to a recent change I made to the host system to globally use DNSoverTLS:
$ cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/50-ignore-auto-dns.conf
[connection-en-and-wl]
match-device=interface-name:en*;interface-name:wl*
ipv4.ignore-auto-dns=yes
ipv6.ignore-auto-dns=yes
$ cat /etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/10-dns-over-tls.conf
[Resolve]
DNS=<redacted>#<redacted>
DNSSEC=no
DNSOverTLS=yes
Domains=~.
So, I reverted all those changes, powered off the VM, restarted entirely the host machine, and started the VM again… but the guest machine still fails to acquire its IP address.
Last but not least, I tried to stop firewalld before restarting libvirt and the VM (I found it out on this (old) Red Hat guide. And it worked. The guest OS hasn’t even fully booted that libvirt allocated an IP to the machine:
$ sudo systemctl stop firewalld.service
$ sudo systemctl restart libvirtd.service
$ virsh start fedora41-ser
Domain 'fedora41-ser' started
$ sudo virsh net-dhcp-leases default
Expiry Time MAC address Protocol IP address Hostname Client ID or DUID
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2026-08-29 00:58:34 52:54:00:78:8b:63 ipv4 192.168.124.114/24 ansible 01:52:54:00:78:8b:63
Then, I shutdown the VM, started firewalld service again, restarted libvirtd and started the VM… and… all good! the guest’s got his IP.
So, in one hand, the problem is solved, but in the other hand, I don’t have a clue on what was going on. And I don’t really like that. The Red Hat guide I was referring to is legacy (RHEL 7), to my understanding, the trick to stop firewalld relates to a different root cause (iptables package and kernel do not support checksum mangling rules).
I’d be grateful if someone could explain what have happened?