Re: [PATCH] media: venus: venc: avoid double free on video register failure

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

On 19/05/2026 10:08, Guangshuo Li wrote:
> venc_probe() allocates a video_device with video_device_alloc() and
> releases it from the err_vdev_release error path if
> video_register_device() fails.
>
> This can double free the video_device when __video_register_device()
> reaches device_register() and that call fails:
>
>    video_register_device()
>      -> __video_register_device()
>         -> device_register() fails
>            -> put_device(&vdev->dev)
>               -> v4l2_device_release()
>                  -> vdev->release(vdev)
>                     -> video_device_release(vdev)
>
>    venc_probe()
>      -> err_vdev_release
>         -> video_device_release(vdev)
>
> Use video_device_release_empty() while registering the device so that
> registration failure paths do not free vdev through vdev->release().
> venc_probe() then releases vdev exactly once from err_vdev_release.
> Restore video_device_release() after successful registration so the
> registered device keeps its normal lifetime handling.
>
> This issue was found by a static analysis tool I am developing.
>
> Fixes: aaaa93eda64b ("[media] media: venus: venc: add video encoder files")
> Signed-off-by: Guangshuo Li <lgs201920130244@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>   drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/venc.c | 3 ++-
>   1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/venc.c b/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/venc.c
> index bf53267cb68d..9a5a025607fb 100644
> --- a/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/venc.c
> +++ b/drivers/media/platform/qcom/venus/venc.c
> @@ -1579,7 +1579,7 @@ static int venc_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
>   		return -ENOMEM;
>
>   	strscpy(vdev->name, "qcom-venus-encoder", sizeof(vdev->name));
> -	vdev->release = video_device_release;
> +	vdev->release = video_device_release_empty;
>   	vdev->fops = &venc_fops;
>   	vdev->ioctl_ops = &venc_ioctl_ops;
>   	vdev->vfl_dir = VFL_DIR_M2M;
> @@ -1590,6 +1590,7 @@ static int venc_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
>   	if (ret)
>   		goto err_vdev_release;
>
> +	vdev->release = video_device_release;
>   	core->vdev_enc = vdev;
>   	core->dev_enc = dev;
>
> --
> 2.43.0

OK so this will get the same feedback as the Iris version which is 
please fix the cleanup path.

If we look at drivers/media/platform/nxp/imx-jpeg/mxc-jpeg.c we can see

        ret = video_register_device(jpeg->dec_vdev, VFL_TYPE_VIDEO, -1);
        if (ret) {
                dev_err(dev, "failed to register video device\n");
                goto err_vdev_register;
        }
<snip>

err_vdev_register:
        /* Only release if allocation succeeded but registration failed */
        if (jpeg->dec_vdev)
                video_device_release(jpeg->dec_vdev);

So for Venus and Iris

err_vdev_release:
	if(vdev)
		video_device_release(vdev);

i.e. only release the video device on the error path if the vdev pointer 
is non-NULL.

---
bod