[PATCH] wifi: cfg80211: avoid holding rtnl_mutex across all cfg80211_leave() calls
From: Ömer Mete Kaya <hidden>
Date: 2026-09-03 11:17:48
Also in:
linux-wireless
Subsystem:
802.11 (including cfg80211/nl80211), the rest · Maintainers:
Johannes Berg, Linus Torvalds
reg_check_chans_work() holds rtnl_mutex for the entire duration of iterating over all registered devices and calling cfg80211_leave() on each invalid wdev. cfg80211_leave() can be slow (disconnect, stop AP, leave mesh), causing rtnl_mutex starvation when many wireless interfaces are present. This results in tasks waiting for rtnl_mutex for longer than hung_task_timeout_secs: INFO: task hung in inet_rtm_newaddr INFO: task hung in inet6_rtm_newaddr INFO: task hung in nsim_destroy Fix by walking cfg80211_rdev_list under RCU and acquiring rtnl per-device, so other rtnl waiters get a chance to run between devices. I could not add the Fixes: tag because this patch addresses three separate hung task reports whose cause bisections all failed, making it impossible to identify a single introducing commit. Reported-by: syzbot+adeb8550754921fece20@syzkaller.appspotmail.com Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=adeb8550754921fece20 Reported-by: syzbot+101224300649c3eb8af4@syzkaller.appspotmail.com Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=101224300649c3eb8af4 Reported-by: syzbot+8141dcbd23a8f857798a@syzkaller.appspotmail.com Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=8141dcbd23a8f857798a Signed-off-by: Ömer Mete Kaya <redacted> --- net/wireless/reg.c | 19 ++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/wireless/reg.c b/net/wireless/reg.c
index a8336baf85dc..a2e0d1cf8317 100644
--- a/net/wireless/reg.c
+++ b/net/wireless/reg.c@@ -2466,12 +2466,21 @@ static void reg_check_chans_work(struct work_struct *work) struct cfg80211_registered_device *rdev; pr_debug("Verifying active interfaces after reg change\n"); - rtnl_lock(); - - for_each_rdev(rdev) + /* + * Acquire rtnl per-device instead of holding it for the entire loop; + * cfg80211_leave() can be slow and starve other rtnl waiters otherwise. + * wiphy_unregister() holds rtnl across list_del_rcu() + synchronize_rcu(), + * so rdev cannot be freed while we hold rtnl_lock() below. + */ + rcu_read_lock(); + list_for_each_entry_rcu(rdev, &cfg80211_rdev_list, list) { + rcu_read_unlock(); + rtnl_lock(); reg_leave_invalid_chans(&rdev->wiphy); - - rtnl_unlock(); + rtnl_unlock(); + rcu_read_lock(); + } + rcu_read_unlock(); } void reg_check_channels(void)
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2.55.0