Re: [PATCH] intel_th: Fix MSC output device reference leak

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman

Date: Mon Jul 06 2026 - 03:50:47 EST


On Sun, Jul 05, 2026 at 10:41:57PM +0800, Guangshuo Li wrote:
> intel_th_output_open() looks up the output device with
> bus_find_device_by_devt(), which returns the device with a reference that
> must be dropped after use.
>
> The reference is currently intended to be dropped from
> intel_th_output_release(). However, a successful open replaces
> file->f_op with the output driver's file operations before returning, so
> close runs the output driver's release method rather than
> intel_th_output_release().
>
> For MSC outputs, close runs intel_th_msc_release(). That release path
> only removes the per-file iterator and does not drop the device
> reference taken by intel_th_output_open(), so every successful MSC open
> leaks one device reference.
>
> Drop the device reference from intel_th_msc_release(), which is the
> release path that is actually used for MSC output files.
>
> Fixes: 95fc36a234da ("intel_th: fix device leak on output open()")
> Signed-off-by: Guangshuo Li <lgs201920130244@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/msu.c | 2 ++
> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/msu.c b/drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/msu.c
> index a82cf74f39ad..84d99d7b1d20 100644
> --- a/drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/msu.c
> +++ b/drivers/hwtracing/intel_th/msu.c
> @@ -1490,8 +1490,10 @@ static int intel_th_msc_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
> {
> struct msc_iter *iter = file->private_data;
> struct msc *msc = iter->msc;
> + struct intel_th_device *thdev = msc->thdev;
>
> msc_iter_remove(iter, msc);
> + put_device(&thdev->dev);
>
> return 0;
> }
> --
> 2.43.0
>

Hi,

This is the friendly patch-bot of Greg Kroah-Hartman. You have sent him
a patch that has triggered this response. He used to manually respond
to these common problems, but in order to save his sanity (he kept
writing the same thing over and over, yet to different people), I was
created. Hopefully you will not take offence and will fix the problem
in your patch and resubmit it so that it can be accepted into the Linux
kernel tree.

You are receiving this message because of the following common error(s)
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- You have marked a patch with a "Fixes:" tag for a commit that is in an
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Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst file for how to resolve
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If you wish to discuss this problem further, or you have questions about
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thanks,

greg k-h's patch email bot