[PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Beomseok Kim]

nouveau_fence_signal() clears fence->channel before dropping its
reference.  nouveau_fence_no_signaling(), however, removes an already
signaled fence from fctx->pending without clearing the pointer.

The fence can remain attached to a BO reservation object and be used
later in nouveau_fence_sync() after channel teardown has freed the
channel.  This leaves a stale channel pointer that the sync path can
dereference.

A diagnostic build with concurrent short-lived Wayland GL clients
observed nouveau_fence_no_signaling() with a fence pointing to channel
C, nouveau_channel_del(C) returning, and then nouveau_fence_sync()
attempting to read C->cli.  A no-fault read failed after teardown.

Clear the pointer in nouveau_fence_no_signaling() to match
nouveau_fence_signal(), so the sync path uses the fence wait fallback.

Fixes: 29ba89b2371d ("drm/nouveau: rework to new fence interface")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Beomseok Kim <dilddream31@gmail.com>
---
 drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
index edbe9e08b..5b09cf134 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
@@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ static bool nouveau_fence_no_signaling(struct dma_fence *f)
 	 */
 	if (nouveau_fence_is_signaled(f)) {
 		list_del(&fence->head);
+		rcu_assign_pointer(fence->channel, NULL);
 
 		dma_fence_put(&fence->base);
 		return false;
-- 
2.55.0

[PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Beomseok Kim]

nouveau_fence_signal() clears fence->channel before dropping its
reference.  nouveau_fence_no_signaling(), however, removes an already
signaled fence from fctx->pending without clearing the pointer.

The fence can remain attached to a BO reservation object and be used
later in nouveau_fence_sync() after channel teardown has freed the
channel.  This leaves a stale channel pointer that the sync path can
dereference.

A diagnostic build with concurrent short-lived Wayland GL clients
observed nouveau_fence_no_signaling() with a fence pointing to channel
C, nouveau_channel_del(C) returning, and then nouveau_fence_sync()
attempting to read C->cli.  A no-fault read failed after teardown.

Clear the pointer in nouveau_fence_no_signaling() to match
nouveau_fence_signal(), so the sync path uses the fence wait fallback.

Fixes: 29ba89b2371d ("drm/nouveau: rework to new fence interface")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Beomseok Kim <dilddream31@gmail.com>
---
 drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
index edbe9e08b..5b09cf134 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau/nouveau_fence.c
@@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ static bool nouveau_fence_no_signaling(struct dma_fence *f)
 	 */
 	if (nouveau_fence_is_signaled(f)) {
 		list_del(&fence->head);
+		rcu_assign_pointer(fence->channel, NULL);
 
 		dma_fence_put(&fence->base);
 		return false;
-- 
2.55.0

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[김범석]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 243 bytes --]

Gentle Ping.

There has been some related discussion here:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr

The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of the
issue reported so far.

Thanks.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 481 bytes --]

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[김범석]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 243 bytes --]

Gentle Ping.

There has been some related discussion here:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr

The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of the
issue reported so far.

Thanks.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 481 bytes --]

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[김범석]

Gentle Ping.

There has been some related discussion here:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr

The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of
the issue reported so far.

Apologies if you received this twice. My previous message was rejected
by the mailing list due to HTML formatting.


Thanks.


2026년 10월 15일 (목) 오후 6:10, 김범석 <dilddream31@gmail.com>님이 작성:
>
> Gentle Ping.
>
> There has been some related discussion here:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
>
> The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of the issue reported so far.
>
>
> Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[김범석]

Gentle Ping.

There has been some related discussion here:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr

The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of
the issue reported so far.

Apologies if you received this twice. My previous message was rejected
by the mailing list due to HTML formatting.


Thanks.


2026년 10월 15일 (목) 오후 6:10, 김범석 <dilddream31@gmail.com>님이 작성:
>
> Gentle Ping.
>
> There has been some related discussion here:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
>
> The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of the issue reported so far.
>
>
> Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[lyude]

On Thu, 2026-10-15 at 19:40 +0900, 김범석 wrote:
> Gentle Ping.
> 
> There has been some related discussion here:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
> 
> The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of
> the issue reported so far.
> 
> Apologies if you received this twice. My previous message was
> rejected
> by the mailing list due to HTML formatting.


It's no problem, I'm going to try to get back to reviewing stuff asap -
currently I'm in the middle of moving however so I've got to focus on
higher priority stuff at work at the moment. So it might take me 2 or 3
weeks before I can start reviewing stuff again
> 
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 2026년 10월 15일 (목) 오후 6:10, 김범석 <dilddream31@gmail.com>님이 작성:
> > 
> > Gentle Ping.
> > 
> > There has been some related discussion here:
> > https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
> > 
> > The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction
> > of the issue reported so far.
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[lyude]

On Thu, 2026-10-15 at 19:40 +0900, 김범석 wrote:
> Gentle Ping.
> 
> There has been some related discussion here:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
> 
> The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction of
> the issue reported so far.
> 
> Apologies if you received this twice. My previous message was
> rejected
> by the mailing list due to HTML formatting.


It's no problem, I'm going to try to get back to reviewing stuff asap -
currently I'm in the middle of moving however so I've got to focus on
higher priority stuff at work at the moment. So it might take me 2 or 3
weeks before I can start reviewing stuff again
> 
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 2026년 10월 15일 (목) 오후 6:10, 김범석 <dilddream31@gmail.com>님이 작성:
> > 
> > Gentle Ping.
> > 
> > There has been some related discussion here:
> > https://lore.kernel.org/r/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr
> > 
> > The patch has also been independently tested, with no reproduction
> > of the issue reported so far.
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks.

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Marek Czernohous]

On Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:14:50 +0900, Beomseok Kim <dilddream31@gmail.com> wrote:
> nouveau_fence_signal() clears fence->channel before dropping its
> reference.  nouveau_fence_no_signaling(), however, removes an already
> signaled fence from fctx->pending without clearing the pointer.

[...]

> @@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ static bool nouveau_fence_no_signaling(struct dma_fence *f)
>  	 */
>  	if (nouveau_fence_is_signaled(f)) {
>  		list_del(&fence->head);
> +		rcu_assign_pointer(fence->channel, NULL);

I think this patch fixes drm/nouveau#443 [1]. The nouveau_fence_sync()
oopses there and in the reporter's thread [2] (MCP79, Debian 6.12.43,
6.12.90 and 7.0.10) all fault at CR2 0x40 on the prev->cli->drm load,
with prev taken from f->channel and prev->cli NULL. A channel's cli is
never cleared, so prev most likely points to a freed channel. That is
the stale pointer described above: the no-signaling path is the only
way off fctx->pending that leaves fence->channel set, and
nouveau_fence_context_kill() only walks fctx->pending.

The fix looks right to me. enable_signaling runs under the fence lock
(&fctx->lock) while the fence is still on fctx->pending, so the new
store happens before nouveau_fence_context_kill() takes that lock, and
thus before the synchronize_rcu() in nouveau_fence_context_del(). With
fence->channel NULL, nouveau_fence_sync() falls back to dma_fence_wait()
on an already signaled fence.

Emmanuel Fleury's prev->cli check for the same oops [3] only helps when
the freed memory reads back as zero, so I prefer this patch.

The patch applies to 6.12.y with an offset; compile-tested there with
W=1 only. I have asked the reporter (Cc'd) to test it.

I did this review with help from Claude (claude-opus-5-5).

Reviewed-by: Marek Czernohous <marek@czernohous.de>

[1] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nouveau/-/issues/443
[2] https://lore.freedesktop.org/nouveau/b7f523dc-fe41-4514-a1a5-747005311cbe@yahoo.fr/
[3] https://lore.freedesktop.org/nouveau/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr/

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Marek Czernohous]

On Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:14:50 +0900, Beomseok Kim <dilddream31@gmail.com> wrote:
> nouveau_fence_signal() clears fence->channel before dropping its
> reference.  nouveau_fence_no_signaling(), however, removes an already
> signaled fence from fctx->pending without clearing the pointer.

[...]

> @@ -488,6 +488,7 @@ static bool nouveau_fence_no_signaling(struct dma_fence *f)
>  	 */
>  	if (nouveau_fence_is_signaled(f)) {
>  		list_del(&fence->head);
> +		rcu_assign_pointer(fence->channel, NULL);

I think this patch fixes drm/nouveau#443 [1]. The nouveau_fence_sync()
oopses there and in the reporter's thread [2] (MCP79, Debian 6.12.43,
6.12.90 and 7.0.10) all fault at CR2 0x40 on the prev->cli->drm load,
with prev taken from f->channel and prev->cli NULL. A channel's cli is
never cleared, so prev most likely points to a freed channel. That is
the stale pointer described above: the no-signaling path is the only
way off fctx->pending that leaves fence->channel set, and
nouveau_fence_context_kill() only walks fctx->pending.

The fix looks right to me. enable_signaling runs under the fence lock
(&fctx->lock) while the fence is still on fctx->pending, so the new
store happens before nouveau_fence_context_kill() takes that lock, and
thus before the synchronize_rcu() in nouveau_fence_context_del(). With
fence->channel NULL, nouveau_fence_sync() falls back to dma_fence_wait()
on an already signaled fence.

Emmanuel Fleury's prev->cli check for the same oops [3] only helps when
the freed memory reads back as zero, so I prefer this patch.

The patch applies to 6.12.y with an offset; compile-tested there with
W=1 only. I have asked the reporter (Cc'd) to test it.

I did this review with help from Claude (claude-opus-5-5).

Reviewed-by: Marek Czernohous <marek@czernohous.de>

[1] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nouveau/-/issues/443
[2] https://lore.freedesktop.org/nouveau/b7f523dc-fe41-4514-a1a5-747005311cbe@yahoo.fr/
[3] https://lore.freedesktop.org/nouveau/1690ea65-a1e0-4a34-bde1-bdd26e31c6c4@u-bordeaux.fr/

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Fab Stz]

Hello,

> The patch applies to 6.12.y with an offset; compile-tested there with
> W=1 only. I have asked the reporter (Cc'd) to test it.

Thank you Marek, Beomseok and other contributors.

For my quick test of the patch by Beomseok Kim, please see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nouveau/-/work_items/443#note_3781457

Regards
Fab

Re: [PATCH] drm/nouveau: Clear fence channel in no-signaling path

[Fab Stz]

Hello,

> The patch applies to 6.12.y with an offset; compile-tested there with
> W=1 only. I have asked the reporter (Cc'd) to test it.

Thank you Marek, Beomseok and other contributors.

For my quick test of the patch by Beomseok Kim, please see https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nouveau/-/work_items/443#note_3781457

Regards
Fab