Re: [PATCH v2 2/2] wifi: ath12k: Fix firmware stats leak when pdev list is empty

Saikiran B
2026-01-27T04:17:54Z

Hi Baochen,

Regarding your questions:

"Are other stats populated?"

Yes. When ath12k_mac_get_fw_stats() returns success (0), it means the
firmware response was received and valid WMI events were processed.
The firmware response to WMI_REQUEST_PDEV_STAT typically includes
multiple stats TLVs (vdev stats, beacon stats, etc.). Even if the
"pdev stats" list ends up empty (e.g., due to specific filtering or
availability), the firmware should have populated other lists (like
vdevs or beacons) in the ar->fw_stats structure. If we don't reset,
these valid entries leak and accumulate.

"Where exactly is -71 (EPROTO) printed?"

The log "failed to pull fw stats: -71" is printed in
ath12k_update_stats_event() (wmi.c line 8500 in my tree). This error
code (-EPROTO) propagates from ath12k_wmi_tlv_fw_stats_data_parse(),
where it is returned when buffer validation checks fail (e.g., if (len
< sizeof(*src))). This failure suggests that the accumulated state or
memory corruption from the leak eventually causes the parser to fail
on subsequent events.

So, fixing the leak is necessary for correctness regardless of the
specific side-effect error code.

Thanks & Regards,
Saikiran

On Tue, Jan 27, 2026 at 8:57 AM Baochen Qiang
<baochen.qiang@oss.qualcomm.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 1/26/2026 5:52 PM, Saikiran wrote:
> > The commits bd6ec8111e65 and 2977567b244f changed firmware stats handling
> > to be caller-driven, requiring explicit ath12k_fw_stats_reset() calls
> > after using ath12k_mac_get_fw_stats().
> >
> > In ath12k_mac_op_get_txpower(), when ath12k_mac_get_fw_stats() succeeds
> > but the pdev stats list is empty, the function exits without calling
> > ath12k_fw_stats_reset(). Even though the pdev list is empty, the firmware
> > may have populated other stats lists (vdevs, beacons, etc.) in the
>
> 'may' is not enough, we need to be 100% sure whether other stats are populated. This is
> critical for us to find the root cause.
>
> > ar->fw_stats structure.
> >
> > Without resetting the stats buffer, this data accumulates across multiple
> > calls, eventually causing the stats buffer to overflow and leading to
> > firmware communication failures (error -71/EPROTO) during subsequent
> > operations.
> >
> > The issue manifests during 5GHz scanning which triggers multiple TX power
> > queries. Symptoms include:
> > - "failed to pull fw stats: -71" errors in dmesg
>
> still, can you please check the logs to see at which exact place is this printed?
>
> > - 5GHz networks not detected despite hardware support
> > - 2.4GHz networks work normally
> >
> > Fix by calling ath12k_fw_stats_reset() when the pdev list is empty,
> > ensuring the stats buffer is properly cleaned up even when only partial
> > stats data is received from firmware.
> >
> > Fixes: bd6ec8111e65 ("wifi: ath12k: Make firmware stats reset caller-driven")
> > Link: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-concept/+bug/2138308
> > Tested-on: WCN7850 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.HMT.1.1.c5-00302 (Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x)
> > Signed-off-by: Saikiran <bjsaikiran@gmail.com>
> > ---
> > drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c | 1 +
> > 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
> > index e0e49f782bf8..6e35c3ee9864 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/mac.c
> > @@ -5169,6 +5169,7 @@ static int ath12k_mac_op_get_txpower(struct ieee80211_hw *hw,
> > struct ath12k_fw_stats_pdev, list);
> > if (!pdev) {
> > spin_unlock_bh(&ar->data_lock);
> > + ath12k_fw_stats_reset(ar);
> > goto err_fallback;
> > }
> >
>