From: Mayank Mishra <mayankmishraa@google.com>
To: Vinod Koul <vkoul@kernel.org>, Frank Li <Frank.Li@kernel.org>
Cc: Jassi Brar <jassi.brar@samsung.com>,
Dan Williams <djbw@kernel.org>,
Linus Walleij <linusw@kernel.org>,
dmaengine@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
mayankmishraa@google.com, vamshigajjela@google.com
Subject: [PATCH] dmaengine: pl330: Fix NULL pointer dereference in tasklet during channel release
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2026 12:59:13 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260709125914.1079328-1-mayankmishraa@google.com> (raw)
When a DMA transfer aborts (e.g., due to a translation fault), the
interrupt handler stops the channel, schedules completion callbacks,
and marks the descriptors as DONE with an error status.
Subsequent channel release via pl330_free_chan_resources() clears the
hardware thread by calling pl330_release_channel(), which reschedules
the tasklet, and then sets pch->thread to NULL.
Because pl330_free_chan_resources() and pl330_tasklet() were not
synchronized on the setting of pch->thread (holding pl330->lock and
pch->lock respectively), a TOCTOU race condition occurred:
1. pl330_tasklet() verified that pch->thread was non-NULL.
2. pl330_free_chan_resources() concurrently set pch->thread to NULL.
3. pl330_tasklet() resumed and dereferenced pch->thread->dmac->lock,
resulting in a kernel NULL pointer dereference at offset 0x10.
Resolve this by acquiring the channel lock pch->lock before the global
pl330->lock inside pl330_free_chan_resources() when setting the thread
pointer to NULL, enforcing the driver's existing locking hierarchy
(pch->lock -> pl330->lock). Additionally, add safety checks inside
pl330_tasklet() to verify that pch->thread is valid before dereferencing.
Fixes: b3040e40675e ("DMA: PL330: Add dma api driver")
Signed-off-by: Mayank Mishra <mayankmishraa@google.com>
---
drivers/dma/pl330.c | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/dma/pl330.c b/drivers/dma/pl330.c
index 25ba84b18704..acb9949f4a62 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/pl330.c
+++ b/drivers/dma/pl330.c
@@ -2086,12 +2086,23 @@ static void pl330_tasklet(struct tasklet_struct *t)
fill_queue(pch);
if (list_empty(&pch->work_list)) {
- spin_lock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
- _stop(pch->thread);
- spin_unlock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
- power_down = true;
- pch->active = false;
- } else {
+ /*
+ * Verify pch->thread is still valid before dereferencing
+ * it, as it could be set to NULL asynchronously during
+ * channel release after transfer aborts.
+ */
+ if (pch->thread) {
+ spin_lock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
+ _stop(pch->thread);
+ spin_unlock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
+ power_down = true;
+ pch->active = false;
+ }
+ } else if (pch->thread) {
+ /*
+ * Verify pch->thread is valid before starting it, ensuring
+ * safe abort cleanups when channel resources are released.
+ */
/* Make sure the PL330 Channel thread is active */
spin_lock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
pl330_start_thread(pch->thread);
@@ -2109,7 +2120,8 @@ static void pl330_tasklet(struct tasklet_struct *t)
if (pch->cyclic) {
desc->status = PREP;
list_move_tail(&desc->node, &pch->work_list);
- if (power_down) {
+ /* Verify thread validity before restarting cyclic channel */
+ if (power_down && pch->thread) {
pch->active = true;
spin_lock(&pch->thread->dmac->lock);
pl330_start_thread(pch->thread);
@@ -2357,7 +2369,14 @@ static void pl330_free_chan_resources(struct dma_chan *chan)
tasklet_kill(&pch->task);
pm_runtime_get_sync(pch->dmac->ddma.dev);
- spin_lock_irqsave(&pl330->lock, flags);
+ /*
+ * Acquire pch->lock before pl330->lock to respect the locking hierarchy
+ * (pch->lock -> pl330->lock) used inside the tasklet. This ensures
+ * that setting pch->thread to NULL and checking it inside the tasklet
+ * is fully synchronized, preventing TOCTOU race conditions.
+ */
+ spin_lock_irqsave(&pch->lock, flags);
+ spin_lock(&pl330->lock);
pl330_release_channel(pch->thread);
pch->thread = NULL;
@@ -2365,7 +2384,8 @@ static void pl330_free_chan_resources(struct dma_chan *chan)
if (pch->cyclic)
list_splice_tail_init(&pch->work_list, &pch->dmac->desc_pool);
- spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pl330->lock, flags);
+ spin_unlock(&pl330->lock);
+ spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pch->lock, flags);
pm_runtime_put_autosuspend(pch->dmac->ddma.dev);
pl330_unprep_slave_fifo(pch);
}
--
2.55.0.795.g602f6c329a-goog
next reply other threads:[~2026-07-09 13:01 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 2+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-07-09 12:59 Mayank Mishra [this message]
2026-07-09 13:15 ` [PATCH] dmaengine: pl330: Fix NULL pointer dereference in tasklet during channel release sashiko-bot
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260709125914.1079328-1-mayankmishraa@google.com \
--to=mayankmishraa@google.com \
--cc=Frank.Li@kernel.org \
--cc=djbw@kernel.org \
--cc=dmaengine@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=jassi.brar@samsung.com \
--cc=linusw@kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=vamshigajjela@google.com \
--cc=vkoul@kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox