The nmstate-handler pod on master2 node is in CrashLoopBackOff state due to a port binding conflict. The pod fails to start its metrics server because port 8089 is already in use. The error message indicates: "failed to start metrics server: failed to create listener: listen tcp :8089: bind: address already in use"
Additionally, the logs show multiple warnings about netlink packet route incompatibilities with the newer kernel, and failed netlink packet decoding errors.

OpenShift Version: 4.20.0-ec.6
Kubernetes Version: v1.33.3
nmstate-handler image: registry.redhat.io/openshift4/ose-kubernetes-nmstate-handler-rhel9@sha256:8d7f064859fbb4890a87008d80ccb56b2b560dc105290265cf00b684d96a390b
Nmstate version: 2.2.48
Kernel Version: 5.14.0-570.35.1.el9_6.x86_64

Currently observed on master2 node with 12 restarts. The issue appears to be consistent as the pod is in CrashLoopBackOff state.

Deploy OpenShift 4.20.0-ec.6 cluster
Install nmstate operator
Observe nmstate-handler pod on master2 node
Pod fails to start with port binding error

nmstate-handler-s8spq pod on master2 is in CrashLoopBackOff state
Pod has restarted 12 times
Error log shows: "failed to start metrics server: failed to create listener: listen tcp :8089: bind: address already in use"
Multiple netlink warnings and errors in the logs:
"WARN netlink_packet_route::link::buffer_tool] Specified IFLA_INET6_ICMP6STATS NLA attribute holds more(most likely new kernel) data which is unknown to netlink-packet-route crate, expecting 48, got 56"
"ERROR netlink_proto::codecs] failed to decode packet" for eno1, eno2, eno3, and eno4 interfaces

All nmstate-handler pods should run successfully without port conflicts
nmstate-handler should be able to bind to port 8089 for its metrics server
No netlink packet decoding errors should occur

Cluster: bm12-ibm.rhos-psi.cnv-qe.rhood.us
Only the nmstate-handler pod on master2 is affected; pods on master1 and master3 are running fine
The port conflict suggests either:
Another process on the node is using port 8089
A previous instance of nmstate-handler didn't release the port properly
There might be a hostNetwork/hostPort configuration issue
The netlink errors suggest compatibility issues between the nmstate/nispor libraries and the newer kernel version
must-gather collected at: must-gather.local.3886589935363134981/