[PATCH] firmware_loader: fix device reference leak in firmware_upload_register()
From: Guangshuo Li
Date: Wed Apr 15 2026 - 04:51:38 EST
firmware_upload_register()
-> fw_create_instance()
-> device_initialize()
After fw_create_instance() succeeds, the lifetime of the embedded struct
device is expected to be managed through the device core reference
counting, since fw_create_instance() has already called
device_initialize().
In firmware_upload_register(), if alloc_lookup_fw_priv() fails after
fw_create_instance() succeeds, the code reaches free_fw_sysfs and frees
fw_sysfs directly instead of releasing the device reference with
put_device(). This may leave the reference count of the embedded struct
device unbalanced, resulting in a refcount leak.
The issue was identified by a static analysis tool I developed and
confirmed by manual review. Fix this by using put_device(fw_dev) in the
failure path and letting fw_dev_release() handle the final cleanup,
instead of freeing the instance directly from the error path.
Fixes: 97730bbb242c ("firmware_loader: Add firmware-upload support")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Guangshuo Li <lgs201920130244@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c | 3 ++-
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c b/drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c
index f59a7856934c..6b701185dcb6 100644
--- a/drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c
+++ b/drivers/base/firmware_loader/sysfs_upload.c
@@ -366,7 +366,8 @@ firmware_upload_register(struct module *module, struct device *parent,
return fw_upload;
free_fw_sysfs:
- kfree(fw_sysfs);
+ put_device(fw_dev);
+ goto exit_module_put;
free_fw_upload_priv:
kfree(fw_upload_priv);
--
2.43.0