[PATCH v6 3/8] media: meson: vdec: Handle kthread failure and free codec state

From: Anand Moon

Date: Sat May 30 2026 - 05:45:10 EST


vdec_start_streaming() launches a recycle thread when required by the
codec. If kthread_run() fails, the previous error path only powered off
the hardware, leaving sess->priv and codec state allocated. This caused
a permanent leak of the codec context and associated DMA buffers.

Fix this by introducing a dedicated err_cleanup path:

- Call codec_ops->stop() to release the codec context and clear sess->priv.
- Power off the hardware before freeing buffers to avoid DMA faults.
- Free canvas IDs explicitly and set sess->vififo_vaddr = NULL after
dma_free_coherent() to guard against double‑free in fallback stop paths.
- Reset core->cur_sess and sess->status to prevent stale references.

Following change closes the memory leak on kthread_run() failure and ensures
robust cleanup of codec resources in both error and stop paths.

Cc: Nicolas Dufresne <nicolas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reported-by: Sashiko <sashiko-bot@xxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260521090944.F35401F00A3D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
Fixes: 3e7f51bd9607 ("media: meson: add v4l2 m2m video decoder driver")
Signed-off-by: Anand Moon <linux.amoon@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/vdec.c | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/vdec.c b/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/vdec.c
index 7233000e2232..8a5bf1a96830 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/vdec.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/media/meson/vdec/vdec.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ struct dummy_buf {
/* 16 MiB for parsed bitstream swap exchange */
#define SIZE_VIFIFO SZ_16M

+static void vdec_free_canvas(struct amvdec_session *sess);
+
static u32 get_output_size(u32 width, u32 height)
{
return ALIGN(width * height, SZ_64K);
@@ -352,16 +354,31 @@ static int vdec_start_streaming(struct vb2_queue *q, unsigned int count)

sess->sequence_cap = 0;
sess->sequence_out = 0;
- if (vdec_codec_needs_recycle(sess))
+ if (vdec_codec_needs_recycle(sess)) {
sess->recycle_thread = kthread_run(vdec_recycle_thread, sess,
"vdec_recycle");
+ if (IS_ERR(sess->recycle_thread)) {
+ ret = PTR_ERR(sess->recycle_thread);
+ sess->recycle_thread = NULL;
+ goto err_cleanup;
+ }
+ }

schedule_work(&sess->esparser_queue_work);
return 0;

+err_cleanup:
+ vdec_free_canvas(sess);
+ vdec_poweroff(sess);
+ if (codec_ops && codec_ops->stop && sess->priv) {
+ codec_ops->stop(sess);
+ kfree(sess->priv);
+ sess->priv = NULL;
+ }
vififo_free:
dma_free_coherent(sess->core->dev, sess->vififo_size,
sess->vififo_vaddr, sess->vififo_paddr);
+ sess->vififo_vaddr = NULL;
bufs_done:
mutex_lock(&core->lock);
if (core->cur_sess == sess)
@@ -441,8 +458,11 @@ static void vdec_stop_streaming(struct vb2_queue *q)

vdec_poweroff(sess);
vdec_free_canvas(sess);
- dma_free_coherent(sess->core->dev, sess->vififo_size,
- sess->vififo_vaddr, sess->vififo_paddr);
+ if (sess->vififo_vaddr) {
+ dma_free_coherent(sess->core->dev, sess->vififo_size,
+ sess->vififo_vaddr,
+ sess->vififo_paddr);
+ }
vdec_reset_timestamps(sess);
vdec_reset_bufs_recycle(sess);
kfree(sess->priv);
--
2.50.1