[PATCH] cxl/memdev: fix deadlock in cxl_memdev_autoremove() on attach failure

From: Gregory Price

Date: Tue Feb 10 2026 - 10:43:56 EST


cxl_memdev_autoremove() takes device_lock(&cxlmd->dev) via guard(device)
and then calls cxl_memdev_unregister() when the attach callback was
provided but cxl_mem_probe() failed to bind.

cxl_memdev_unregister() calls
cdev_device_del()
device_del()
bus_remove_device()
device_release_driver()

which also takes device_lock(), deadlocking the calling thread.

This path is reached when a driver uses the @attach parameter to
devm_cxl_add_memdev() and the CXL topology fails to enumerate (e.g.
DVSEC range registers decode outside platform-defined CXL ranges,
causing the endpoint port probe to fail).

Fix by using scoped_guard() and breaking out of the guard scope before
calling cxl_memdev_unregister(), so device_lock() is released first.

Fixes: 29317f8dc6ed ("cxl/mem: Introduce cxl_memdev_attach for CXL-dependent operation")
Signed-off-by: Gregory Price <gourry@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c | 25 ++++++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c b/drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c
index af3d0cc65138..c0de767b24fb 100644
--- a/drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c
+++ b/drivers/cxl/core/memdev.c
@@ -1098,19 +1098,22 @@ static struct cxl_memdev *cxl_memdev_autoremove(struct cxl_memdev *cxlmd)
* return. Note that failure here could be the result of a race to
* teardown the CXL port topology. I.e. cxl_mem_probe() could have
* succeeded and then cxl_mem unbound before the lock is acquired.
+ *
+ * Check under device_lock but unregister outside of it, as
+ * cxl_memdev_unregister() will also take the device lock.
*/
- guard(device)(&cxlmd->dev);
- if (cxlmd->attach && !cxlmd->dev.driver) {
- cxl_memdev_unregister(cxlmd);
- return ERR_PTR(-ENXIO);
+ scoped_guard(device, &cxlmd->dev) {
+ if (cxlmd->attach && !cxlmd->dev.driver)
+ break;
+
+ rc = devm_add_action_or_reset(cxlmd->cxlds->dev,
+ cxl_memdev_unregister, cxlmd);
+ if (rc)
+ return ERR_PTR(rc);
+ return cxlmd;
}
-
- rc = devm_add_action_or_reset(cxlmd->cxlds->dev, cxl_memdev_unregister,
- cxlmd);
- if (rc)
- return ERR_PTR(rc);
-
- return cxlmd;
+ cxl_memdev_unregister(cxlmd);
+ return ERR_PTR(-ENXIO);
}

/*
--
2.53.0