Re: [PATCH] wifi: ath11k: fix warning when unbinding

From: Rameshkumar Sundaram

Date: Fri May 08 2026 - 06:19:43 EST


On 5/7/2026 12:38 PM, Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez wrote:
Hello Rameshkumar,

The hardwre that I am using is QCNFA765, but I think it is something
related to ath11k driver and not related to some specific hardware.

I am running with the latest upstream kernel and I can reproduce it, so
I think it is not related with the problems that you comment.

Let me repeat this to try to clarify:

The easiest way to reproduce it is to run in a VM the default upstream
kernel (with this card using PCI passthrough), and since this is always
failing, just unbind the device (ath11k_pci).


What is the exact failure? Do you see any driver error logs when it occurs?


The same problem was fixed by me for ath12k driver here ca68ce0d9f4b
("wifi: ath12k: fix warning when unbinding"), and I have seen the same
problem is also happening for ath11k driver.


Got it. I was just thinking along with the proposed fix — whether we might also need to handle the sequencing on QMI failure.
In other words, do you think the issue(double free) would still be reproducible if we include a change like below ?

index 1397756d6251..5bbb53a6b404 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/qmi.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/qmi.c
@@ -3295,7 +3295,11 @@ static void ath11k_qmi_driver_event_work(struct work_struct *work)
clear_bit(ATH11K_FLAG_CRASH_FLUSH,
&ab->dev_flags);
clear_bit(ATH11K_FLAG_RECOVERY, &ab->dev_flags);
- ath11k_core_qmi_firmware_ready(ab);
+ ret = ath11k_core_qmi_firmware_ready(ab);
+ if (ret) {
+ set_bit(ATH11K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL, &ab->dev_flags);
+ break;
+ }
set_bit(ATH11K_FLAG_REGISTERED, &ab->dev_flags);

break;



--
Ramesh