I/G/C/B/A-Series f/w 6.61.08.0013 Fails MAC Authentication with "Mac-vlan error adding macAuth user" message

[FAQ_User]

Article ID: 14987

Products
I-Series, firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013
G-Series, firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013
C5-Series; firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013, 6.71.01.0067 through 6.71.02.0008
C3-Series, firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013
B5-Series; firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013, 6.71.01.0067 through 6.71.02.0008
B3-Series, firmware 6.42.03.0004 through 6.61.08.0013
A4-Series; firmware 6.61.02.0007 through 6.61.08.0013, 6.71.01.0067 through 6.71.02.0008

Changes
MAC Authentication has been configured.

Symptoms
Mac authentication fails for apparently random users.

Each time a MAC Authentication fails, syslog ('

code:

show logging buffer

') records a distinctive "

code:

Policy_dist: Mac-vlan error adding macAuth user

" error; for example:
<

code:

162

>

code:

May 30 12:07:24 10.32.25.15-1 UPN[208687976]: policy_dist.cpp(6156) 714453 %% Policy_dist: Mac-vlan error adding macAuth user( mac 050569c02e vlan 2003) on port 32

Solution/Workaround
Upgrade to 6.61 firmware 6.61.09.0012 or higher.
Release notes state, in the '

code:

Changes and Enhancements in 6.61.09.0012

' section:

code:

18432

code:

Corrected an issue that resulted in the message "Policy_dist: Mac-vlan error adding macAuth user", and prevented properly applying the authenticating users VLAN attribute to the hardware.

Also fixed as of C5/B5/A4-Series f/w 6.71.03.0025 (though not stated in release notes).

Pre-upgrade workaround: A system reboot resolves the issue for a few days.