[REGRESSION] 6.1.178+: lpfc: boot hang due to use-after-free of mboxq in lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup() backport

[REGRESSION] 6.1.178+: lpfc: boot hang due to use-after-free of mboxq in lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup() backport

[Alexander Antonakakis]

Hello,

Since 6.1.178, servers with an Emulex SLI-4 Fibre Channel HBA hang
during boot when the lpfc driver initializes. 6.1.177 works.
6.1.180, 6.1.187 and 6.1.190 (Debian 12 kernels 6.1.0-52 to -54)
all hang in the same way.

Hardware:
   Emulex LPe31000/LPe32000 Series 16Gb/32Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
   Firmware 14.4.322.17, sli-4:2:c
   lpfc 14.2.0.7

The cause appears to be the 6.1.y backport of:

299f5baa1321 ("scsi: lpfc: Fix memory leak in 
lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup()")

upstream commit 1bd28625e25be549ee7c47532e7c3ef91c682410

In mainline, the new mempool_free(mboxq, ...) is placed after the
call to lpfc_get_sli4_parameters(phba, mboxq) and its error check.
In the 6.1.y backport it landed before that call. In
drivers/scsi/lpfc/lpfc_init.c at v6.1.178:

8178:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);
8187:  rc = lpfc_get_sli4_parameters(phba, mboxq);
8200:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);  /* error path */
8207:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);  /* error path */

So mboxq is freed, then used for a mailbox command to the HBA
(use-after-free), and may be freed again on the error paths
(double free). This runs on every SLI-4 HBA probe, which matches
the hang about 2 seconds into boot.

Moving the mempool_free() at line 8178 to after the
lpfc_get_sli4_parameters() call and its error handling, as in
mainline, should fix it. Other stable branches that took this
backport may be worth checking for the same placement.

Downstream report: https://bugs.debian.org/1151377

#regzbot introduced: 299f5baa1321a0951cc3ebbacc72b67433a65391

This is a production server, so I can only test during maintenance
windows, but I am happy to test a fix.

Regards,
Alexander Antonakakis

-- 
Alexander Antonakakis
Information Systems Department
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh)
Alsyllio Agrokepiou, 1 Makedonias str, Chania, Crete, 73100 GREECE
Τ. +30 28210 35000 ext.718 | Ε. antonakakis@maich.gr

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Re: [REGRESSION] 6.1.178+: lpfc: boot hang due to use-after-free of mboxq in lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup() backport

[Andrey Misiurov]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 01:23:03PM +0300, Alexander Antonakakis wrote:
> Moving the mempool_free() at line 8178 to after the
> lpfc_get_sli4_parameters() call and its error handling, as in
> mainline, should fix it.

Hi Alexander,

This looks like the same issue I came across. A patch doing exactly
that is already queued for the next 6.1.y release:

https://lore.kernel.org/r/20261008184328.2857037-1-andrey.misyrov@gmail.com

Regards,
Andrey

Re: [REGRESSION] 6.1.178+: lpfc: boot hang due to use-after-free of mboxq in lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup() backport

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 01:23:03PM +0300, Alexander Antonakakis wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Since 6.1.178, servers with an Emulex SLI-4 Fibre Channel HBA hang
> during boot when the lpfc driver initializes. 6.1.177 works.
> 6.1.180, 6.1.187 and 6.1.190 (Debian 12 kernels 6.1.0-52 to -54)
> all hang in the same way.
> 
> Hardware:
>    Emulex LPe31000/LPe32000 Series 16Gb/32Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
>    Firmware 14.4.322.17, sli-4:2:c
>    lpfc 14.2.0.7
> 
> The cause appears to be the 6.1.y backport of:
> 
> 299f5baa1321 ("scsi: lpfc: Fix memory leak in 
> lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup()")
> 
> upstream commit 1bd28625e25be549ee7c47532e7c3ef91c682410
> 
> In mainline, the new mempool_free(mboxq, ...) is placed after the
> call to lpfc_get_sli4_parameters(phba, mboxq) and its error check.
> In the 6.1.y backport it landed before that call. In
> drivers/scsi/lpfc/lpfc_init.c at v6.1.178:
> 
> 8178:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);
> 8187:  rc = lpfc_get_sli4_parameters(phba, mboxq);
> 8200:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);  /* error path */
> 8207:  mempool_free(mboxq, phba->mbox_mem_pool);  /* error path */
> 
> So mboxq is freed, then used for a mailbox command to the HBA
> (use-after-free), and may be freed again on the error paths
> (double free). This runs on every SLI-4 HBA probe, which matches
> the hang about 2 seconds into boot.
> 
> Moving the mempool_free() at line 8178 to after the
> lpfc_get_sli4_parameters() call and its error handling, as in
> mainline, should fix it. Other stable branches that took this
> backport may be worth checking for the same placement.

Great, can you send a fix for this?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: [REGRESSION] 6.1.178+: lpfc: boot hang due to use-after-free of mboxq in lpfc_sli4_driver_resource_setup() backport

[Alexander Antonakakis]

#regzbot link: 
https://lore.kernel.org/r/20261008184328.2857037-1-andrey.misyrov@gmail.com

On 10/20/26 14:39, Andrey Misiurov wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 01:23:03PM +0300, Alexander Antonakakis wrote:
>> Moving the mempool_free() at line 8178 to after the
>> lpfc_get_sli4_parameters() call and its error handling, as in
>> mainline, should fix it.
> 
> Hi Alexander,
> 
> This looks like the same issue I came across. A patch doing exactly
> that is already queued for the next 6.1.y release:
> 
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/20261008184328.2857037-1-andrey.misyrov@gmail.com
> 
> Regards,
> Andrey

-- 
Alexander Antonakakis
Information Systems Department
Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh)
Alsyllio Agrokepiou, 1 Makedonias str, Chania, Crete, 73100 GREECE
Τ. +30 28210 35000 ext.718 | Ε. antonakakis@maich.gr