Re: [PATCH v2] firmware_loader: Fix recursive lock in device_cache_fw_images()

[Danilo Krummrich]

On Fri May 29, 2026 at 5:09 PM CEST, syzbot wrote:
> From: Dmitry Vyukov <dvyukov@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> A recursive locking deadlock can occur in the firmware loader's power
> management notification handler.
>
> During system suspend or hibernation preparation, fw_pm_notify() calls
> device_cache_fw_images(). This function acquires fw_lock to set the
> firmware cache state to FW_LOADER_START_CACHE and then iterates over all
> devices using dpm_for_each_dev() while still holding the lock.
>
> For each device, dev_cache_fw_image() schedules asynchronous work to cache
> the firmware. If memory allocation for the async work entry fails (e.g., in
> out-of-memory conditions), async_schedule_node_domain() falls back to
> executing the work function synchronously in the current thread.
>
> The synchronous execution path (__async_dev_cache_fw_image() ->
> cache_firmware() -> request_firmware() -> assign_fw()) attempts to acquire
> fw_lock again. Since the current thread already holds fw_lock, this results
> in a recursive locking deadlock.
>
> Fix this by releasing fw_lock immediately after updating the cache state
> and before calling dpm_for_each_dev(). The lock is only needed to protect
> the state update. Concurrent firmware requests will correctly see the
> FW_LOADER_START_CACHE state and use the piggyback mechanism, which is
> independently protected by its own fwc->name_lock.
>
> Fixes: ac39b3ea73aa ("firmware loader: let caching firmware piggyback on loading firmware")
> Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3.1-pro-preview Gemini:gemini-3-flash-preview syzbot
> Reported-by: syzbot+e70e4c6f6eee43357ba7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=e70e4c6f6eee43357ba7
> Link: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/ai_job?id=8b4af9fd-24af-423f-8acb-1159fd34c1a5
> Signed-off-by: Dmitry Vyukov <dvyukov@xxxxxxxxxx>

I think Sashiko found an orthogonal issue that looks valid at a first glance, in
case you are interested to dig in further.

[1] https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/48b092a5-f49d-48a4-95f4-f65bebfc6bc3%40mail.kernel.org