[PATCH] net: lpc_eth: Fix a possible memory leak in lpc_mii_probe()

Ma Ke
2026-03-30T08:17:03Z

lpc_mii_probe() calls of_phy_find_device() to obtain a phy_device
pointer. of_phy_find_device() increments the refcount of the device.
The current implementation does not decrement the refcount after using
the pointer, which leads to a memory leak.

Add phy_device_free() to balance the refcount.

Found by code review.

Signed-off-by: Ma Ke <make24@iscas.ac.cn>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 3503bf024b3e ("net: lpc_eth: parse phy nodes from device tree")
---
drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c | 11 ++++++-----
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c
index 8b9a3e3bba30..8ce7c9bb6dd6 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/nxp/lpc_eth.c
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ static void lpc_handle_link_change(struct net_device *ndev)
static int lpc_mii_probe(struct net_device *ndev)
{
struct netdata_local *pldat = netdev_priv(ndev);
- struct phy_device *phydev;
+ struct phy_device *phydev, *phydev_tmp;

/* Attach to the PHY */
if (lpc_phy_interface_mode(&pldat->pdev->dev) == PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_MII)
@@ -760,17 +760,18 @@ static int lpc_mii_probe(struct net_device *ndev)
netdev_info(ndev, "using RMII interface\n");

if (pldat->phy_node)
- phydev = of_phy_find_device(pldat->phy_node);
+ phydev_tmp = of_phy_find_device(pldat->phy_node);
else
- phydev = phy_find_first(pldat->mii_bus);
- if (!phydev) {
+ phydev_tmp = phy_find_first(pldat->mii_bus);
+ if (!phydev_tmp) {
netdev_err(ndev, "no PHY found\n");
return -ENODEV;
}

- phydev = phy_connect(ndev, phydev_name(phydev),
+ phydev = phy_connect(ndev, phydev_name(phydev_tmp),
&lpc_handle_link_change,
lpc_phy_interface_mode(&pldat->pdev->dev));
+ phy_device_free(phydev_tmp);
if (IS_ERR(phydev)) {
netdev_err(ndev, "Could not attach to PHY\n");
return PTR_ERR(phydev);
--
2.43.0