Re: [PATCH 1/1] nfc: nci: ignore unexpected CORE_RESET_NTF

From: Simon Horman

Date: Mon Sep 21 2026 - 09:24:58 EST


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---
nfc: nci: ignore unexpected CORE_RESET_NTF

This adds an NCI_RESET_PENDING flag that is set when CORE_RESET_CMD is sent
and cleared on request completion, so that CORE_RESET_NTF is only handled
while a reset request is outstanding. Unexpected notifications are dropped
with a ratelimited warning.

A few questions about the new gate below.

> diff --git a/net/nfc/nci/core.c b/net/nfc/nci/core.c
> index 5f46c4b5720f6..5a90591cd9af7 100644
> --- a/net/nfc/nci/core.c
> +++ b/net/nfc/nci/core.c
> @@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ static int __nci_request(struct nci_dev *ndev,
> }
>
> ndev->req_status = ndev->req_result = 0;
> + clear_bit(NCI_RESET_PENDING, &ndev->flags);
>
> return rc;
> }

[Severity: Medium]
Since the flag carries no generation or sequence identity, can a
CORE_RESET_NTF belonging to an abandoned reset be matched against a later
reset attempt?

If reset attempt #1 times out here, the flag is cleared, but the
notification may already be sitting in nci_rx_work. The failure path in
nci_open_device() purges the queue but does not drain the worker:

/* Init failed, cleanup */
skb_queue_purge(&ndev->cmd_q);
skb_queue_purge(&ndev->rx_q);
skb_queue_purge(&ndev->tx_q);

ndev->ops->close(ndev);

Only nci_close_device() flushes ndev->rx_wq, and it does that after dropping
req_lock; the exported nci_core_reset() path purges nothing.

If userspace then retries NFC_CMD_DEV_UP (or a driver calls
nci_core_reset()), nci_reset_req() sets the same bit again and the stale
frame is accepted by test_and_clear_bit() in nci_core_reset_ntf_packet(),
overwriting ndev->nci_ver / manufact_* from the old frame and completing
reset #2 with NCI_STATUS_OK before its own CORE_RESET_RSP has been seen.
The later real response can then complete the following CORE_INIT request.

> @@ -163,6 +164,8 @@ static void nci_reset_req(struct nci_dev *ndev, const void *opt)
> {
> struct nci_core_reset_cmd cmd;
>
> + set_bit(NCI_RESET_PENDING, &ndev->flags);
> +
> cmd.reset_type = NCI_RESET_TYPE_RESET_CONFIG;
> nci_send_cmd(ndev, NCI_OP_CORE_RESET_CMD, 1, &cmd);
> }

[Severity: Medium]
Is a single bit enough synchronisation between the two contexts here?
nci_reset_req()/__nci_request() run in process context under
ndev->req_lock, while nci_core_reset_ntf_packet() runs from nci_rx_work on
ndev->rx_wq, and the two share no lock.

The check and the use are not atomic. After test_and_clear_bit() succeeds in
nci_core_reset_ntf_packet(), the worker can be preempted before it reaches:

ndev->nci_ver = ntf->nci_ver;
...
nci_req_complete(ndev, NCI_STATUS_OK);

If the reset it belonged to times out in that window, __nci_request() zeroes
req_status and returns -ETIMEDOUT, and a new request can be armed
(req_status = NCI_REQ_PEND). nci_req_complete() only looks at the global
status:

if (ndev->req_status == NCI_REQ_PEND) {
ndev->req_result = result;
ndev->req_status = NCI_REQ_DONE;
complete(&ndev->req_completion);
}

so the resumed worker completes the new request as successful, and writes
ndev->nci_ver while nci_open_device() may be reading it:

if (ndev->nci_ver & NCI_VER_2_MASK)
opt = &nci_init_v2_cmd;

Would tying the notification to a request generation, or serialising the
flag test with request start/teardown, close this?

> diff --git a/net/nfc/nci/ntf.c b/net/nfc/nci/ntf.c
> index f5c9a8ab7ec10..b7fa8980804da 100644
> --- a/net/nfc/nci/ntf.c
> +++ b/net/nfc/nci/ntf.c
> @@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ static int nci_core_reset_ntf_packet(struct nci_dev *ndev,
> if (skb->len < sizeof(struct nci_core_reset_ntf))
> return -EINVAL;
>
> + if (!test_and_clear_bit(NCI_RESET_PENDING, &ndev->flags)) {
> + pr_warn_ratelimited("unexpected CORE_RESET_NTF\n");
> + return -EINVAL;
> + }
> +

[Severity: High]
Does returning -EINVAL here break the fdp firmware update handshake?

In nci_ntf_packet() a non-zero return skips the driver dispatch:

case NCI_OP_CORE_RESET_NTF:
if (nci_core_reset_ntf_packet(ndev, skb))
goto end;
break;
...
nci_core_ntf_packet(ndev, ntf_opcode, skb);
end:
kfree_skb(skb);

nci_core_ntf_packet() is the only dispatcher for driver core_ops handlers,
and drivers/nfc/fdp registers one for exactly this notification:

static const struct nci_driver_ops fdp_core_ops[] = {
...
{
.opcode = NCI_OP_CORE_RESET_NTF,
.ntf = fdp_nci_core_reset_ntf_packet,
},
};

That hook is what wakes the patch path:

static int fdp_nci_core_reset_ntf_packet(struct nci_dev *ndev,
struct sk_buff *skb)
{
struct fdp_nci_info *info = nci_get_drvdata(ndev);

info->setup_reset_ntf = 1;
wake_up(&info->setup_wq);

The notification it waits for is unsolicited, as the comment in
fdp_nci_send_patch() describes:

* command with NCI_PATCH_TYPE_EOT parameter. The device will send a
* NFCC_PATCH_NTF packet and a NCI_OP_CORE_RESET_NTF packet.

At that point the last request was nci_prop_cmd(NCI_OP_PROP_PATCH_OID),
whose completion also clears NCI_RESET_PENDING in __nci_request(), so the
flag is clear and the notification is dropped. Would
fdp_nci_patch_otp()/fdp_nci_patch_ram() then block forever in

wait_event_interruptible(info->setup_wq, info->setup_reset_ntf);

with no timeout? That wait runs inside ndev->ops->setup(), which
nci_open_device() calls while holding ndev->req_lock, so a stalled task
would also block nci_close_device()/nci_unregister_device() and keep the
request_firmware() buffers pinned because fdp_nci_release_firmware() is
never reached.

Would it be enough to skip only the core-level bookkeeping (drop the state
update and break) instead of aborting the whole notification pipeline?

[Severity: Medium]
Should the decision use ntf->reset_trigger rather than a host-side flag?

The notification carries the discriminator itself:

struct nci_core_reset_ntf {
u8 reset_trigger;
u8 config_status;
...

but the accept/reject decision is taken before the packet is even parsed,
and reset_trigger is never read in the handler.

That cuts both ways. A genuine NFCC-initiated reset arriving outside a reset
request is discarded with only a warning, even though the controller has
returned to its initial state (RF discovery stopped, logical connections and
credits destroyed, routing table cleared), and the driver hook does not run
either.

Conversely, a spontaneous notification (reset_trigger not indicating
CORE_RESET_CMD) that happens to land inside the reset window is still
accepted, still overwrites ndev->nci_ver / manufact_id /
manufact_specific_info, and still calls:

nci_req_complete(ndev, NCI_STATUS_OK);

Is the intended bug class actually eliminated, or only narrowed by timing?

> diff --git a/net/nfc/nci/rsp.c b/net/nfc/nci/rsp.c
> index b0ab4f5acbce8..a4bfe14372a81 100644
> --- a/net/nfc/nci/rsp.c
> +++ b/net/nfc/nci/rsp.c
> @@ -32,14 +32,19 @@ static void nci_core_reset_rsp_packet(struct nci_dev *ndev,
>
> pr_debug("status 0x%x\n", rsp->status);
>
> + if (rsp->status != NCI_STATUS_OK) {
> + clear_bit(NCI_RESET_PENDING, &ndev->flags);
> + nci_req_complete(ndev, rsp->status);
> + return;
> + }
> +

[Severity: Medium]
Should the response handler test NCI_RESET_PENDING too, rather than only
clearing it?

nci_rsp_packet() dispatches purely by opcode with no correlation to the
outstanding command:

switch (rsp_opcode) {
case NCI_OP_CORE_RESET_RSP:
nci_core_reset_rsp_packet(ndev, skb);
break;

and nci_req_complete() only checks the global status, so a stray or delayed
CORE_RESET_RSP still completes whatever unrelated request is in flight
(CORE_INIT, RF_DISCOVER, CONN_CREATE) - the desynchronisation the commit
message sets out to remove.

This new block also widens that surface. Before the patch a 1-byte (NCI 2.x)
response completed nothing at all; now the status test runs before any length
discrimination, so a single 3-byte control frame (header plus a non-OK
status, accepted by nci_valid_size() since the declared payload is non-zero)
completes an unrelated request with a controller-chosen status.

There is also a mirror case: because the flag is cleared here without being
validated, a stray CORE_RESET_RSP during a genuine NCI 2.x reset disarms the
new guard, and the real CORE_RESET_NTF is then rejected as unexpected, so
the reset stalls until NCI_RESET_TIMEOUT.

> /* Handle NCI 1.x ver */
> if (skb->len != 1) {
> - if (rsp->status == NCI_STATUS_OK) {
> - ndev->nci_ver = rsp->nci_ver;
> - pr_debug("nci_ver 0x%x, config_status 0x%x\n",
> - rsp->nci_ver, rsp->config_status);
> - }
> + ndev->nci_ver = rsp->nci_ver;
> + pr_debug("nci_ver 0x%x, config_status 0x%x\n",
> + rsp->nci_ver, rsp->config_status);
>
> + clear_bit(NCI_RESET_PENDING, &ndev->flags);
> nci_req_complete(ndev, rsp->status);
> }
> }

[Severity: Low]
This is a pre-existing issue and not introduced by this patch, but does
"skb->len != 1" read rsp->config_status past the received payload?

config_status is the third byte:

struct nci_core_reset_rsp {
__u8 status;
__u8 nci_ver;
__u8 config_status;
} __packed;

and nci_valid_size() only requires the declared payload to be present and
non-zero:

if (skb->len < hdr_size ||
skb->len < hdr_size + nci_plen(skb->data)) {
return false;
}

if (!nci_plen(skb->data)) {

so a CORE_RESET_RSP with plen == 2 and status == NCI_STATUS_OK reaches this
block and the pr_debug() reads one byte beyond the payload. The patch keeps
the same condition (status == OK and len != 1), so this is unchanged
behaviour; would an explicit length check for the 3-byte form be worth
adding while this function is being touched?