Re: [PATCH] netdevsim: fix deadlock in nsim_bus_dev_max_vfs_write()

[Paolo Abeni]

On 7/31/26 11:55 AM, syzbot wrote:
> From: Slawomir Stepien <sst@xxxxxxxxx>
> 
> There is an ABBA deadlock between the devlink instance lock and the debugfs
> active file reference mechanism.
> 
> When a device is being removed (e.g., via nsim_drv_remove()), the driver
> acquires the devlink instance lock and then calls
> debugfs_remove_recursive(). This function blocks waiting for all active
> file operations on the debugfs files to complete.
> 
> Concurrently, if a user writes to the "max_vfs" debugfs file, the VFS layer
> acquires an active reference to the file. The write handler,
> nsim_bus_dev_max_vfs_write(), then attempts to acquire the devlink instance
> lock, which is already held by the removal task.
> 
> This creates a circular dependency resulting in a deadlock:
> 
> INFO: task blocked for more than 143 seconds.
> Call Trace:
>  wait_for_completion+0x2ca/0x5e0 kernel/sched/completion.c:153
>  __debugfs_file_removed fs/debugfs/inode.c:751 [inline]
>  remove_one+0x2df/0x3b0 fs/debugfs/inode.c:758
>  __simple_recursive_removal+0x215/0x520 fs/libfs.c:623
>  debugfs_remove+0x5b/0x70 fs/debugfs/inode.c:781
>  nsim_dev_debugfs_exit drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c:372 [inline]
>  nsim_drv_remove+0xc0/0x170 drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c:1803
> 
> INFO: task blocked for more than 143 seconds.
> Call Trace:
>  __mutex_lock+0x7bf/0x1550 kernel/locking/mutex.c:821
>  nsim_bus_dev_max_vfs_write+0x229/0x3d0 drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c:276
>  full_proxy_write+0x127/0x1f0 fs/debugfs/file.c:388
>  vfs_write+0x296/0xba0 fs/read_write.c:685
> 
> To fix this, use devl_trylock() in nsim_bus_dev_max_vfs_write() instead of
> devl_lock(). If the lock cannot be acquired, return -EBUSY. This aborts the
> write operation, releases the debugfs active file reference, and allows the
> pending debugfs_remove_recursive() to proceed.
> 
> Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3.5-flash Gemini:gemini-3.1-pro-preview syzbot
> Reported-by: syzbot+3147c5de186107ffc7a1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=3147c5de186107ffc7a1
> Link: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/ai_job?id=fcdda182-bebf-49ab-ada0-d4d2e814ebf7
> Signed-off-by: Slawomir Stepien <sst@xxxxxxxxx>
> 
> ---
> diff --git a/drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c b/drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c
> index aed9ad5f1..421cd7327 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/netdevsim/dev.c
> @@ -273,7 +273,11 @@ static ssize_t nsim_bus_dev_max_vfs_write(struct file *file,
>  		return -ENOMEM;
>  
>  	nsim_dev = file->private_data;
> -	devl_lock(priv_to_devlink(nsim_dev));
> +	if (!devl_trylock(priv_to_devlink(nsim_dev))) {
> +		ret = -EBUSY;

I think this should return restart_syscall(). This kind of schema is
calling for trouble, but for netdevsim should be okish.

/P