[PATCH v1] serial: qcom_geni: fix kfifo underflow when flush precedes DMA completion IRQ
From: Viken Dadhaniya
Date: Wed May 06 2026 - 00:46:11 EST
When uart_flush_buffer() runs before the DMA completion IRQ is delivered,
the following race can occur (all steps serialized by uart_port_lock):
1. DMA starts: tx_remaining = N, kfifo contains N bytes
2. DMA completes in hardware; IRQ is pending but not yet delivered
3. uart_flush_buffer() acquires the port lock and calls kfifo_reset(),
making kfifo_len() = 0 while tx_remaining remains N
4. uart_flush_buffer() releases the port lock
5. DMA IRQ fires; handle_tx_dma() acquires the port lock and calls
uart_xmit_advance(uport, tx_remaining) on an empty kfifo
uart_xmit_advance() increments kfifo->out by tx_remaining. Since
kfifo_reset() already set both in and out to 0, out wraps past in,
causing kfifo_len() to return UART_XMIT_SIZE - tx_remaining. The next
start_tx_dma() call then submits a DMA transfer of stale buffer data.
Fix this by snapshotting kfifo_len() at the start of handle_tx_dma()
and skipping uart_xmit_advance() when fifo_len < tx_remaining, which
indicates the kfifo was reset by a preceding flush.
Fixes: 2aaa43c70778 ("tty: serial: qcom-geni-serial: add support for serial engine DMA")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Viken Dadhaniya <viken.dadhaniya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/tty/serial/qcom_geni_serial.c | 14 +++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/qcom_geni_serial.c b/drivers/tty/serial/qcom_geni_serial.c
index b365dd5da3cb..3c1be7b21290 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/qcom_geni_serial.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/qcom_geni_serial.c
@@ -1031,8 +1031,20 @@ static void qcom_geni_serial_handle_tx_dma(struct uart_port *uport)
{
struct qcom_geni_serial_port *port = to_dev_port(uport);
struct tty_port *tport = &uport->state->port;
+ unsigned int fifo_len = kfifo_len(&tport->xmit_fifo);
+
+ /*
+ * Only advance the kfifo if it still contains the bytes that were
+ * transferred. uart_flush_buffer() may have run before this IRQ
+ * fired: it calls kfifo_reset() under the port lock, making
+ * fifo_len = 0 while tx_remaining remains non-zero. Calling
+ * uart_xmit_advance() in that case would underflow kfifo->out past
+ * kfifo->in, making kfifo_len() wrap to UART_XMIT_SIZE - tx_remaining
+ * and triggering a spurious large DMA transfer of stale data.
+ */
+ if (fifo_len >= port->tx_remaining)
+ uart_xmit_advance(uport, port->tx_remaining);
- uart_xmit_advance(uport, port->tx_remaining);
geni_se_tx_dma_unprep(&port->se, port->tx_dma_addr, port->tx_remaining);
port->tx_dma_addr = 0;
port->tx_remaining = 0;
---
base-commit: 4cd074ae20bbcc293bbbce9163abe99d68ae6ae0
change-id: 20260506-serial-dma-stale-tx-buf-f53db336a13a
Best regards,
--
Viken Dadhaniya <viken.dadhaniya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>