[PATCH -tip] locking/rtmutex: Skip remove_waiter() when waiter is not enqueued

From: Davidlohr Bueso

Date: Thu May 07 2026 - 14:12:49 EST


syzbot triggered the following splat in remove_waiter() via
FUTEX_CMP_REQUEUE_PI:

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000a88-0x0000000000000a8f]
class_raw_spinlock_constructor
remove_waiter+0x159/0x1200 kernel/locking/rtmutex.c:1561
rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock+0x103/0x120
futex_requeue+0x10e4/0x20d0
__x64_sys_futex+0x34f/0x4d0

task_blocks_on_rt_mutex() does not arm the waiter upon deadlock detection,
leaving waiter->task nil, where 3bfdc63936dd ("rtmutex: Use waiter::task instead
of current in remove_waiter()") made this fatal.

Furthermore, rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock() should not be calling into remove_waiter()
upon a successfully grabbing the rtmutex. 1a1fb985f2e2 ("futex: Handle early deadlock
return correctly"), moved the remove_waiter() out of __rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock()
(where 'ret' was only ever 0 or < 0) into the wrapper. Tighten this check to
account for try_to_take_rt_mutex().

Fixes: 3bfdc63936dd ("rtmutex: Use waiter::task instead of current in remove_waiter()")
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/69f114ac.050a0220.ac8b.0003.GAE@xxxxxxxxxx/
Reported-by: syzbot+78147abe6c524f183ee9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Davidlohr Bueso <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/locking/rtmutex.c | 3 +++
kernel/locking/rtmutex_api.c | 2 +-
2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/locking/rtmutex.c b/kernel/locking/rtmutex.c
index 4f386ea6c792..daeeeef973e2 100644
--- a/kernel/locking/rtmutex.c
+++ b/kernel/locking/rtmutex.c
@@ -1558,6 +1558,9 @@ static void __sched remove_waiter(struct rt_mutex_base *lock,

lockdep_assert_held(&lock->wait_lock);

+ if (!waiter_task) /* never enqueued */
+ return;
+
scoped_guard(raw_spinlock, &waiter_task->pi_lock) {
rt_mutex_dequeue(lock, waiter);
waiter_task->pi_blocked_on = NULL;
diff --git a/kernel/locking/rtmutex_api.c b/kernel/locking/rtmutex_api.c
index 124219aea46e..514fce7a4e0a 100644
--- a/kernel/locking/rtmutex_api.c
+++ b/kernel/locking/rtmutex_api.c
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ int __sched rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock(struct rt_mutex_base *lock,

raw_spin_lock_irq(&lock->wait_lock);
ret = __rt_mutex_start_proxy_lock(lock, waiter, task, &wake_q);
- if (unlikely(ret))
+ if (unlikely(ret < 0))
remove_waiter(lock, waiter);
preempt_disable();
raw_spin_unlock_irq(&lock->wait_lock);
--
2.39.5