[PATCH v3] perf/ftrace: Fix WARNING in __unregister_ftrace_function

From: Rik van Riel

Date: Wed May 27 2026 - 11:18:38 EST


perf_ftrace_function_unregister() unconditionally calls
unregister_ftrace_function() without checking whether the ftrace_ops
was ever successfully registered. This triggers a WARN_ON in
__unregister_ftrace_function() when the ops doesn't have
FTRACE_OPS_FL_ENABLED set.

This can happen during perf_event_alloc() error cleanup when
perf_trace_destroy() is called via __free_event() on an event whose
ftrace_ops registration failed or was already torn down by
perf_try_init_event()'s err_destroy path.

The call path is:
perf_event_alloc() error cleanup
-> __free_event()
-> event->destroy() [tp_perf_event_destroy]
-> perf_trace_destroy()
-> perf_trace_event_close()
-> TRACE_REG_PERF_CLOSE
-> perf_ftrace_function_unregister()
-> unregister_ftrace_function()
-> __unregister_ftrace_function()
-> WARN_ON(!(ops->flags & FTRACE_OPS_FL_ENABLED))

Fix this by checking FTRACE_OPS_FL_ENABLED before attempting to
unregister. If the ops is not enabled, just free the filter and
return success.

Signed-off-by: Rik van Riel <riel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c | 12 +++++++++++-
1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c b/kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c
index a6bb7577e8c5..5b272856e5ab 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_event_perf.c
@@ -497,7 +497,17 @@ static int perf_ftrace_function_register(struct perf_event *event)
static int perf_ftrace_function_unregister(struct perf_event *event)
{
struct ftrace_ops *ops = &event->ftrace_ops;
- int ret = unregister_ftrace_function(ops);
+ int ret = 0;
+
+ /*
+ * Perf will call this unconditionally even if the ops is not
+ * enabled. The unregister_ftrace_function() will warn if called
+ * when not enabled. Just bypass the unregistering if ops isn't
+ * enabled here.
+ */
+ if (ops->flags & FTRACE_OPS_FL_ENABLED)
+ ret = unregister_ftrace_function(ops);
+
ftrace_free_filter(ops);
return ret;
}
--
2.54.0