pfSense

I believe there was a static ARP issue introduced with 2.7.0 (https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/14374). However, that issue specifically mentions "on boot" which does not align with this issue.

Under pfsense 2.7.2, it appears that static ARP entries can be created (for example when a host is offline) however the entries are converted into regular ARP entries (which expire) once a host is present on the network. Removing the static ARP flag from the DHCP entry, applying the configuration, and then reconfiguring it and applying again appears to recreate the static ARP entry, however, if the host is present on the network it is converted into an expiring ARP entry.

Once the (now temporary) ARP entry expires, when removing the static ARP entry via the DHCP config page, I see the following in the system log:

php-fpm /services_dhcp_edit.php: The command '/usr/sbin/arp -d '192.168.5.5'' returned exit code '1', the output was 'arp: delete 192.168.5.5: No such file or directory'

I assume this is because the static ARP entry is no longer present to be removed from the backend?

I also observe that all user added devices with static ARP (i.e not the pfSense interfaces which are consistently in permanent state) can appear in various states in ARP table diagnostics page, switching between a missing/blank status, permanent, and a huge negative expiry time progressively getting more and more negative, and the regular expiry time once the device is present on the network.

The issue presented immediately after upgrading to pfsense 2.7.2.