SR-IOV Network Operator version 4.18 is incorrectly installed on OpenShift 4.17 or older clusters

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (RHOCP)
    • < 4.18
  • SR-IOV Network Operator 4.18

Issue

After a catalog update, the SR-IOV Network Operator may have been upgraded to version 4.18, which is not supported on OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) versions 4.17 or older.

This article covers the specific remediation for the SR-IOV Network Operator. For the general issue affecting multiple operators, refer to Red Hat Operator has version higher than the cluster version.

Resolution

The remediation strategy to recover the SR-IOV Network Operator is to uninstall version 4.18 and reinstall a version compatible with your cluster.

Important: Before proceeding, take note of your existing SR-IOV configuration (SriovNetworkNodePolicies, SriovNetworks, SriovIBNetworks, SriovOperatorConfig) so you can recreate it after reinstallation.

Back up the existing SR-IOV configuration

oc get sriovnetworknodepolicy -n openshift-sriov-network-operator -o yaml > sriov-policies-backup.yaml
oc get sriovnetwork -n openshift-sriov-network-operator -o yaml > sriov-networks-backup.yaml
oc get sriovibnetwork -n openshift-sriov-network-operator -o yaml > sriov-ibnetworks-backup.yaml

Delete the operator's custom resources

oc delete sriovnetworknodepolicy -n openshift-sriov-network-operator --all

Wait for SR-IOV node states to reach a stable empty configuration:

until oc get sriovnetworknodestates.sriovnetwork.openshift.io -A -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.syncStatus}' | grep -qx Succeeded; do sleep 5; done

Then delete the remaining resources:

oc delete sriovnetwork -n openshift-sriov-network-operator --all
oc delete sriovibnetwork -n openshift-sriov-network-operator --all
oc delete sriovoperatorconfigs -n openshift-sriov-network-operator --all

Delete the operator namespace

Deleting the namespace also removes the ClusterServiceVersion and Subscription:

oc delete namespace openshift-sriov-network-operator

Delete the operator's webhooks

oc delete mutatingwebhookconfigurations network-resources-injector-config
oc delete mutatingwebhookconfigurations sriov-operator-webhook-config
oc delete validatingwebhookconfiguration sriov-operator-webhook-config

Delete the operator's CustomResourceDefinitions

oc delete crd sriovibnetworks.sriovnetwork.openshift.io
oc delete crd sriovnetworknodepolicies.sriovnetwork.openshift.io
oc delete crd sriovnetworknodestates.sriovnetwork.openshift.io
oc delete crd sriovnetworkpoolconfigs.sriovnetwork.openshift.io
oc delete crd sriovnetworks.sriovnetwork.openshift.io
oc delete crd sriovoperatorconfigs.sriovnetwork.openshift.io

Reset the node draining annotations

The SR-IOV operator uses node annotations to coordinate device configuration and node draining. The annotation scheme has changed across operator versions, so after removing the 4.18 operator these annotations may be left in an inconsistent state. Clearing them prevents the reinstalled operator from getting stuck during its initial reconciliation:

oc annotate node --all sriovnetwork.openshift.io/state-
oc annotate node --all sriovnetwork.openshift.io/desired-state-
oc annotate node --all sriovnetwork.openshift.io/current-state-

Reinstall the SR-IOV Network Operator

Reinstall the SR-IOV Network Operator from OperatorHub following the standard installation procedure. The operator will be installed
to the same version as the cluster. For installation instructions, refer to Installing the SR-IOV Network Operator (see also 4.16 4.14, 4.12 pages).

After installation, reapply your previously backed-up SR-IOV configuration.

Root Cause

For several hours on February 3, 2026, Red Hat released 4.18 Red Hat Operators catalog content into 4.12-4.17 clusters.

For more information, including Diagnostic Steps, please refer to Red Hat Operator has version higher than the cluster version

Diagnostic Steps

Please refer to Red Hat Operator has version higher than the cluster version

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