[PATCH 5/7] misc: reject duplicate names in misc_register()
From: Jia He
Date: Thu May 14 2026 - 01:08:02 EST
The miscdev kunit suite registers two miscdevices with the same name
and expects -EEXIST. The second call currently goes all the way to
sysfs_create_dir_ns(), which prints "cannot create duplicate filename"
with a backtrace on every run.
Walk misc_list under misc_mtx, return -EEXIST on a name collision and
free the just-allocated minor before returning.
To: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
To: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Jia He <justin.he@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/char/misc.c | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 22 insertions(+)
diff --git a/drivers/char/misc.c b/drivers/char/misc.c
index 726516fb0a3b..d6ffa21ac495 100644
--- a/drivers/char/misc.c
+++ b/drivers/char/misc.c
@@ -248,6 +248,28 @@ int misc_register(struct miscdevice *misc)
}
}
+ /*
+ * Detect duplicate names up-front so the subsequent
+ * device_create_with_groups() does not trip
+ * sysfs_create_dir_ns()->sysfs_warn_dup(), which unconditionally
+ * dumps a stack trace. Both the existing miscdev kunit suite
+ * (miscdev_test_duplicate_name) and any caller racing on the same
+ * name would otherwise pollute dmesg on every -EEXIST.
+ */
+ {
+ struct miscdevice *c;
+
+ list_for_each_entry(c, &misc_list, list) {
+ if (strcmp(c->name, misc->name) == 0) {
+ misc_minor_free(misc->minor);
+ if (is_dynamic)
+ misc->minor = MISC_DYNAMIC_MINOR;
+ err = -EEXIST;
+ goto out;
+ }
+ }
+ }
+
dev = MKDEV(MISC_MAJOR, misc->minor);
misc->this_device =
--
2.34.1