[PATCH] i2c: acpi: Fix adapter reference leak in i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode()
From: Ma Ke
Date: Sun Oct 11 2026 - 21:35:06 EST
i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode() obtains an i2c_adapter through
i2c_acpi_find_adapter_by_handle(). That helper uses bus_find_device()
internally, so it returns the adapter with a reference held:
adapter = i2c_verify_adapter(dev);
if (!adapter)
put_device(dev);
return adapter;
The reference is only put on the failure path inside that helper. The
caller owns it otherwise. i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode() never drops
it, neither on the -EPROBE_DEFER path nor after
i2c_new_client_device(), so every call leaks one reference on the
adapter and the adapter can never be released.
i2c_new_client_device() does not consume that reference. It registers
the new client with the adapter as its parent, and device_add() takes
its own reference on the parent, which device_del() releases when the
client goes away. The reference obtained by the lookup is a separate
one and has to be dropped here.
i2c_acpi_notify() in the same file already does exactly this. It takes
the adapter from the same helper, registers the client through
i2c_acpi_register_device(), which calls i2c_new_client_device(), and
then puts the reference.
i2c_new_client_device() gives the client its own reference on the
adapter, so ours can be dropped unconditionally.
Found by code review.
Fixes: 605f8fc22442 ("i2c: core: Add new i2c_acpi_new_device helper function")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Ma Ke <make_ruc2021@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c | 6 +++++-
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
index 8f3bdd50186e..37d1309e93b5 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-acpi.c
@@ -547,6 +547,7 @@ struct i2c_client *i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode(struct fwnode_handle *fwnode,
{
struct i2c_acpi_lookup lookup;
struct i2c_adapter *adapter;
+ struct i2c_client *client;
struct acpi_device *adev;
LIST_HEAD(resource_list);
int ret;
@@ -574,7 +575,10 @@ struct i2c_client *i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode(struct fwnode_handle *fwnode,
if (!adapter)
return ERR_PTR(-EPROBE_DEFER);
- return i2c_new_client_device(adapter, info);
+ client = i2c_new_client_device(adapter, info);
+ put_device(&adapter->dev);
+
+ return client;
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(i2c_acpi_new_device_by_fwnode);
--
2.43.0