[PATCH v2 1/2] dmaengine: Fix device kref underflow in dma_chan_put()

From: Shivank Garg

Date: Tue May 26 2026 - 07:23:35 EST


dma_chan_get() takes chan->device->ref only on the slow path:

/* no kref on fast path */
if (chan->client_count) {
__module_get(owner);
chan->client_count++;
return 0;
}
if (!try_module_get(owner))
return -ENODEV;
ret = kref_get_unless_zero(&chan->device->ref);

dma_chan_put() drops the ref unconditionally, so every fast-path
get/put pair drops one extra device reference.

The bug fires when two conditions hold together: a non-private
provider has a persistent client holding chan->client_count > 0
and another client cycles dmaengine_get()/dmaengine_put().
When the kref hits zero, the subsequent dma_find_channel() returns
NULL even though the provider module is still loaded.

Fix this by dropping device->ref only on the last put, matching the
single slow-path get.

Fixes: 8ad342a86359 ("dmaengine: Add reference counting to dma_device struct")
Signed-off-by: Shivank Garg <shivankg@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/dma/dmaengine.c | 4 +++-
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c b/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
index 405bd2fbb4a3b94fd0bf44526f656f6a19feaad0..605bfa477a004cc0b03957ffb85a52308f903441 100644
--- a/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
+++ b/drivers/dma/dmaengine.c
@@ -515,7 +515,9 @@ static void dma_chan_put(struct dma_chan *chan)
chan->route_data = NULL;
}

- dma_device_put(chan->device);
+ /* This channel is not in use anymore, drop the device ref */
+ if (!chan->client_count)
+ dma_device_put(chan->device);
module_put(dma_chan_to_owner(chan));
}


--
2.43.0