[PATCH] NFC: Fix error handling in nfc_genl_dump_targets

From: Ma Ke

Date: Thu Nov 20 2025 - 21:28:13 EST


nfc_genl_dump_targets() increments the device reference count via
nfc_get_device() but fails to decrement it properly. nfc_get_device()
calls class_find_device() which internally calls get_device() to
increment the reference count. No corresponding put_device() is made
to decrement the reference count.

Add proper reference count decrementing using nfc_put_device() when
the dump operation completes or encounters an error, ensuring balanced
reference counting.

Found by code review.

Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 4d12b8b129f1 ("NFC: add nfc generic netlink interface")
Signed-off-by: Ma Ke <make24@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
net/nfc/netlink.c | 5 +++++
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/nfc/netlink.c b/net/nfc/netlink.c
index a18e2c503da6..9ae138ee91dd 100644
--- a/net/nfc/netlink.c
+++ b/net/nfc/netlink.c
@@ -159,6 +159,11 @@ static int nfc_genl_dump_targets(struct sk_buff *skb,

cb->args[0] = i;

+ if (rc < 0 || i >= dev->n_targets) {
+ nfc_put_device(dev);
+ cb->args[1] = 0;
+ }
+
return skb->len;
}

--
2.17.1