[PATCH v2] md: fix kobject reference leak in md_import_device()

Guangshuo Li
2026-04-13T14:18:11Z

md_import_device() initializes rdev->kobj with kobject_init() before
checking the device size and loading the superblock.

When one of the later checks fails, the error path still frees rdev
directly with kfree(). This bypasses the kobject release path and leaves
the kobject reference unbalanced.

The issue was identified by a static analysis tool I developed and
confirmed by manual review.

After kobject_init(), release rdev through kobject_put() instead of
kfree().

Fixes: f9cb074bff8e ("Kobject: rename kobject_init_ng() to kobject_init()")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Guangshuo Li <lgs201920130244@gmail.com>
---
v2:
- note that the issue was identified by my static analysis tool
- and confirmed by manual review

drivers/md/md.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 6d73f6e196a9..4ce7512dc834 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -3871,6 +3871,9 @@ static struct md_rdev *md_import_device(dev_t newdev, int super_format, int supe

out_blkdev_put:
fput(rdev->bdev_file);
+ md_rdev_clear(rdev);
+ kobject_put(&rdev->kobj);
+ return ERR_PTR(err);
out_clear_rdev:
md_rdev_clear(rdev);
out_free_rdev:
--
2.43.0