Re: [PATCH] platform/x86: int3472: Fix double free of GPIO device during unregister

From: Andy Shevchenko

Date: Tue Oct 28 2025 - 06:02:40 EST


On Tue, Oct 28, 2025 at 08:55:07AM +0000, Dan Scally wrote:
> On 24/10/2025 06:05, Qiu Wenbo wrote:
> >
> > regulator_unregister() already frees the associated GPIO device. On
> > ThinkPad X9 (Lunar Lake), this causes a double free issue that leads to
> > random failures when other drivers (typically Intel THC) attempt to
> > allocate interrupts. The root cause is that the reference count of the
> > pinctrl_intel_platform module unexpectedly drops to zero when this
> > driver defers its probe.
> >
> > This behavior can also be reproduced by unloading the module directly.
> >
> > Fix the issue by removing the redundant release of the GPIO device
> > during regulator unregistration.
> >
> > Fixes: 1e5d088a52c2 ("platform/x86: int3472: Stop using devm_gpiod_get()")

> However the Fixes tag I wonder about; devm_gpiod_get() will also result in a
> call to gpiod_put() when the module is unloaded; doesn't that mean that the
> same issue will occur before that commit?

Actually a good question! To me sounds like it's a bug(?) in regulator code.
It must not release resources it didn't acquire. This sounds like a clear
layering violation.

--
With Best Regards,
Andy Shevchenko