After having configured a mobile internet connection with Network Manager on my laptop running Mageia 3 x86_64, I saw a lot of the following entries in the journal:

Dec 05 20:48:34 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:34 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:35 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:35 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:35 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:35 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:36 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:36 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:36 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.
Dec 05 20:48:36 buchan-laptop kernel: Loading kernel module for a network device with CAP_SYS_MODULE (deprecated).  Use CAP_NET_ADMIN and alias netdev-ppp0 instead.

Some searching found:
http://lwn.net/Articles/430462/
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-925488-start-0.html


Then, in /etc/modprobe.d/00_modprobe.conf I found:
alias ppp0      ppp_async
alias ppp1      ppp_async
alias ppp       ppp_async


After changing these accordingly:
# diff -u /etc/modprobe.d/00_modprobe.conf{.orig,}
--- /etc/modprobe.d/00_modprobe.conf.orig       2013-01-12 12:04:12.000000000 +0200
+++ /etc/modprobe.d/00_modprobe.conf    2013-12-05 20:48:36.996617440 +0200
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@
 alias cipcb1   cipcb
 alias cipcb2   cipcb
 alias cipcb3   cipcb
-alias ppp0     ppp_async
-alias ppp1     ppp_async
+alias netdev-ppp0      ppp_async
+alias netdev-ppp1      ppp_async
 alias slip0    slip
 alias slip1    slip
 alias ppp      ppp_async


I no longer get spammed with the log messages above.

This bug seems to be present in cauldron too, as the current revision (555407) of svn+ssh://svn.mageia.org/svn/packages/cauldron/kmod/current/SOURCES/modprobe.default still contains the offending lines,and possibly a few others (plip0, plip1, tunl0, slip0, slip1, ppp, irlan?), and should be audited to comply with the netdev-* alias naming convention for network devices.

Something is still checking ppp0 and loading the driver, so I can't be 100% sure that 'ifconfig ppp0' or similar loads ppp_async, but this should be good enough:

[root@buchan-laptop ~]# rmmod  ppp_async; rmmod ppp_generic;echo 1;lsmod|grep ppp;ifconfig ppp0;echo 2;lsmod|grep ppp
1
ppp0: error fetching interface information: Device not found
2
ppp_async              17413  0 
ppp_generic            33116  1 ppp_async
crc_ccitt              12707  1 ppp_async
slhc                   13434  1 ppp_generic
[root@buchan-laptop ~]# rmmod  ppp_async; rmmod ppp_generic;echo 1;lsmod|grep ppp;echo 2;lsmod|grep ppp
1
2
[root@buchan-laptop ~]#