Explanation on Uninitialized Variable bio in blk_rq_prep_clone

From: SurajSonawane2415
Date: Fri Oct 04 2024 - 10:11:25 EST


Explaination of how bio could be used uninitialized in this function:

In the function blk_rq_prep_clone, the variable bio is declared but can remain uninitialized
if the allocation with bio_alloc_clone fails. This can lead to undefined behavior when the
function attempts to free bio in the error handling section using bio_put(bio).
By initializing bio to NULL at declaration, we ensure that the cleanup code will only
interact with bio if it has been successfully allocated.

Best regards,
Suraj Sonawane