What causes "failed to get interfaces" in micro/go-micro?

Read errors.Cause(err) for the syscall errno

failed to get interfaces

Error message

failed to get interfaces

What it means

Extract enumerates the machine's network interfaces via net.Interfaces() to find a non-loopback address. This error wraps a failure of that system call, meaning the Go runtime could not list the host's network interfaces at all.

Source

Thrown at internal/util/addr/addr.go:53

}

// Extract returns a valid IP address. If the address provided is a valid
// address, it will be returned directly. Otherwise, the available interfaces
// will be iterated over to find an IP address, preferably private.
func Extract(addr string) (string, error) {
	// if addr is already specified then it's directly returned
	if len(addr) > 0 && (addr != "0.0.0.0" && addr != "[::]" && addr != "::") {
		return addr, nil
	}

	var (
		addrs   []net.Addr
		loAddrs []net.Addr
	)

	ifaces, err := net.Interfaces()
	if err != nil {
		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get interfaces")
	}

	for _, iface := range ifaces {
		ifaceAddrs, err := iface.Addrs()
		if err != nil {
			// ignore error, interface can disappear from system
			continue
		}

		if iface.Flags&net.FlagLoopback != 0 {
			loAddrs = append(loAddrs, ifaceAddrs...)
			continue
		}

		addrs = append(addrs, ifaceAddrs...)
	}

	// Add loopback addresses to the end of the list

View on GitHub (pinned to 24529f1404)

Solutions

Read errors.Cause(err) for the syscall errno
Relax container security profile (seccomp/AppArmor) to allow network interface enumeration
Test with `ip link` or `ifconfig` inside the same container to confirm the restriction
Configure the service/advertising address explicitly instead of relying on auto-extraction
Run the container with the needed capabilities or on the host network

Example fix

// before
addr, err := addr.Extract("") // fails in restricted container
// after
// set --advertise/--server_address explicitly so Extract is not needed
if addr == "" {
    addr = os.Getenv("MICRO_SERVER_ADDRESS")
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// verify interface enumeration works in this environment
if _, err := net.Interfaces(); err != nil {
    // fall back to explicit address from config
    addr = os.Getenv("SERVICE_ADDRESS")
}

Try / catch

advt, err := addr.Extract("")
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to get interfaces") {
        advt = os.Getenv("SERVICE_ADDRESS") // configured fallback
    }
    if advt == "" { return err }
}

Prevention

Set an explicit advertise/server address in containers instead of relying on auto-extract
Test images under your seccomp/AppArmor profile before deploying
Use host networking or grant needed capabilities in restricted environments
Verify with `ip link` inside the container during CI

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Extract (directly or via getAddr/Register/Deregister) in environments where net.Interfaces() fails: restricted /sys or /proc access, seccomp/AppArmor profiles blocking socket ioctls, containers lacking NETADMIN-ish capabilities for interface queries, or extremely large numbers of interfaces.

Common situations: Running in hardened containers/Kubernetes with restrictive seccomp profiles; minimal Docker images with stripped /sys; sandboxed CI runners; malformed interface state on the host.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of micro/go-micro@24529f1404 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/57552520eb9845c1. Report an issue: GitHub.