[PATCH net v2] net: core: failover: fix NULL pointer dereference in failover_slave_register()

From: Zeeshan Ahmad

Date: Thu Feb 26 2026 - 02:59:00 EST


Smatch warns that 'fops' is dereferenced at line 69 without a NULL check.
While other callbacks in this function properly check 'fops', the
rx_handler registration does not.

If failover_get_bymac() returns a valid failover_dev but a NULL fops,
the kernel will encounter a NULL pointer dereference when registering
the rx_handler.

Following the pattern of other failover callers, add a WARN_ON_ONCE()
to catch this misconfiguration. Abort the registration if fops is
missing to prevent an inconsistent state where a slave is logically
linked to a master but lacks a functional data path hook.

Fixes: 30c8bd5aa8b2 ("net: Introduce generic failover module")
Signed-off-by: Zeeshan Ahmad <zeeshanahmad022019@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
- Target 'net' tree as this is a bug fix.
- Change logic from an early return (v1) to WARN_ON_ONCE() and abort
registration to prevent inconsistent state, as discussed with
Simon Horman.
- Update commit message with detailed impact analysis.

net/core/failover.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/net/core/failover.c b/net/core/failover.c
index 2a140b3ea669..1702bb1feca1 100644
--- a/net/core/failover.c
+++ b/net/core/failover.c
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ static int failover_slave_register(struct net_device *slave_dev)
fops->slave_pre_register(slave_dev, failover_dev))
goto done;

+ if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!fops))
+ goto done;
+
err = netdev_rx_handler_register(slave_dev, fops->slave_handle_frame,
failover_dev);
if (err) {
--
2.43.0