[PATCH v4 0/2] PCI/AER: Fix ghes_estatus_pool memory leaks in error handling

From: Priyank Rathod

Date: Fri Sep 18 2026 - 13:26:54 EST


When firmware reports PCIe Advanced Error Reporting (AER) events via ACPI
APEI GHES (ghes_handle_aer()), it allocates a snapshot buffer from
ghes_estatus_pool to store the aer_capability_regs registers before
enqueuing the error record into aer_recover_ring.

aer_recover_queue() returns void, so ghes_handle_aer() cannot release that
buffer itself; ownership is handed to the AER code, which until now freed
it only on the fully successful path. If the record cannot be enqueued, or
if a dequeued record cannot be mapped to a pci_dev, the allocation is
silently leaked. Under a sustained error storm this exhausts
ghes_estatus_pool, which then breaks GHES hardware error reporting
system-wide.

This series fixes both leak paths:

Patch 1: aer_recover_queue() when kfifo_in_spinlocked() fails because
aer_recover_ring (capacity 16) is full. The rejected entry is
freed immediately via ghes_estatus_pool_region_free().

Patch 2: aer_recover_work_func() when a dequeued entry cannot be mapped to
an active PCI device (pdev is NULL). The loop is restructured so
ghes_estatus_pool_region_free() runs unconditionally for every
dequeued item.

Signed-off-by: Priyank Rathod <rathodpriyank@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v4:
- Rebased onto v7.3-rc3+ (f259f446f519); applies cleanly to pci/next as
well. No conflicts with the Advisory Non-Fatal Error support that landed
in the meantime.
- Added missing Fixes: e2abc47a5a1a ("ACPI: APEI: Fix AER info corruption
when error status data has multiple sections") and Cc: stable to both
patches; that commit (v6.7-rc1) introduced the ghes_estatus_pool
allocation whose ownership these paths drop.
- Patch 1: use braces on both arms of the if/else and fix the continuation
alignment (checkpatch --strict).
- Both patches now build warning-free with W=1 and CONFIG_ACPI_APEI_PCIEAER=y
(earlier revisions were only build-tested with APEI disabled, which
compiles neither of the modified functions).
- Explained in both commit messages why the caller cannot free the buffer,
and when the missing-pci_dev path is reachable.
- Cc: Lukas Wunner, who has been active in this code.
- Link to v3: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260803-b4-fix-aer-memleaks-v3-1-e87159611933@xxxxxxxxxx

Changes in v3:
- Resent to fix threading of the series.
- Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260803-b4-fix-aer-memleaks-v2-1-fd199b0171fd@xxxxxxxxxx

Changes in v2:
- Refactored aer_recover_work_func() to ensure ghes_estatus_pool_region_free()
is called unconditionally for every dequeued record.
- Added Patch 1 to fix related memory leak in aer_recover_queue() on kfifo
buffer overflow.
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260803183853.432459-2-rathodpriyank@xxxxxxxxxx

---
Priyank Rathod (2):
PCI/AER: Fix memory leak in aer_recover_queue() on kfifo buffer overflow
PCI/AER: Fix memory leak in aer_recover_work_func() when pci_dev is missing

drivers/pci/pcie/aer.c | 30 +++++++++++++++++-------------
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: f259f446f5198d98e13756d2cd531812a0ad3064
change-id: 20260803-b4-fix-aer-memleaks-524a1bd5e888

Best regards,
--
Priyank Rathod <rathodpriyank@xxxxxxxxxx>