[PATCH] iio: imu: adis: Fix NULL pointer dereference in adis_init

From: Radu Sabau via B4 Relay

Date: Fri Feb 20 2026 - 08:38:04 EST


From: Radu Sabau <radu.sabau@xxxxxxxxxx>

The adis_init() function dereferences adis->ops to check if the
individual function pointers (write, read, reset) are NULL, but does
not first check if adis->ops itself is NULL.

Drivers like adis16480, adis16490, adis16545 and others do not set
custom ops and rely on adis_init() assigning the defaults. Since struct
adis is zero-initialized by devm_iio_device_alloc(), adis->ops is NULL
when adis_init() is called, causing a NULL pointer dereference:

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual
address 0000000000000000
pc : adis_init+0xc0/0x118
Call trace:
adis_init+0xc0/0x118
adis16480_probe+0xe0/0x670

Fix this by checking if adis->ops is NULL before dereferencing it,
falling through to assign the default ops in that case.

Fixes: 7f15d7a7d12d ("iio: imu: adis: Add reset to custom ops")
Signed-off-by: Radu Sabau <radu.sabau@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
adis_init() dereferences adis->ops to validate its function pointers
before checking whether adis->ops itself is NULL. Drivers that rely on
the default ops (adis16480, adis16490, adis16545, among others) never
set adis->ops prior to calling adis_init(), so the field is NULL due to
zero-initialisation by devm_iio_device_alloc(). The result is a kernel
crash on probe:

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000
Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 (DT)
pc : adis_init+0xc0/0x118
lr : adis_init+0x50/0x118
Call trace:
adis_init+0xc0/0x118
adis16480_probe+0xe0/0x670
spi_probe+0x8c/0xf8
really_probe+0xc4/0x2b0

The bug was introduced in 7f15d7 ("iio: imu: adis: Add reset to custom ops")
which added the ops validation logic without a prior NULL check
on the pointer itself.

The fix is a one-line addition of !adis->ops to the condition, so that
a NULL ops pointer is treated the same as an ops struct with all-NULL
function pointers, both falling through to the default ops assignment.
The validation path for partially-populated custom ops structs is
unchanged.

Tested on Raspberry Pi 5 with adis16545-3 connected over SPI. Without
the fix the kernel crashes at adis_init+0xc0. With the fix the driver
probes successfully and the device is accessible via the IIO subsystem.
---
drivers/iio/imu/adis.c | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/iio/imu/adis.c b/drivers/iio/imu/adis.c
index d160147cce0b..e68bc1c36ed1 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/imu/adis.c
+++ b/drivers/iio/imu/adis.c
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ int adis_init(struct adis *adis, struct iio_dev *indio_dev,

adis->spi = spi;
adis->data = data;
- if (!adis->ops->write && !adis->ops->read && !adis->ops->reset)
+ if (!adis->ops || (!adis->ops->write && !adis->ops->read && !adis->ops->reset))
adis->ops = &adis_default_ops;
else if (!adis->ops->write || !adis->ops->read || !adis->ops->reset)
return -EINVAL;

---
base-commit: 8bf22c33e7a172fbc72464f4cc484d23a6b412ba
change-id: 20260220-adis-fix-177ca0405d8a

Best regards,
--
Radu Sabau <radu.sabau@xxxxxxxxxx>