Re: [PATCH net v2] net: pse-pd: scope pse_control regulator handle to kref lifetime

[Simon Horman]

On Wed, Jun 24, 2026 at 10:40:16PM +0200, Carlo Szelinsky wrote:
> From: Corey Leavitt <corey@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> __pse_control_release() drops psec->ps via devm_regulator_put(), which
> only succeeds if the devres entry added by the matching
> devm_regulator_get_exclusive() is still present on pcdev->dev at the
> time the pse_control's kref hits zero.
> 
> That assumption does not hold when the controller is unbound while a
> pse_control still has consumers: pcdev->dev's devres list is released
> LIFO, so every per-attach regulator-GET devres runs (and
> regulator_put()s the underlying regulator) before
> pse_controller_unregister() itself is invoked. Any later
> pse_control_put() from that unbind path then reads psec->ps as a
> dangling pointer inside devm_regulator_put() and WARNs at
> drivers/regulator/devres.c:232 (devres_release() fails to find the
> already-released match).
> 
> The pse_control's consumer handle is logically scoped to the
> pse_control's refcount, not to pcdev->dev's devres lifetime. Switch to
> the plain regulator_get_exclusive() / regulator_put() pair so the
> regulator put in __pse_control_release() no longer depends on the
> controller's devres still being present. No change to the
> regulator-framework-visible refcount or lifetime of the underlying
> regulator: a single get paired with a single put. The existing
> devm_regulator_register() for the per-PI rails is unchanged (those ARE
> correctly scoped to the controller's lifetime).
> 
> This addresses only the regulator handle. The same unbind-while-held
> scenario also leaves __pse_control_release() reading psec->pcdev->pi[]
> and psec->pcdev->owner after pse_controller_unregister() has freed
> pcdev->pi, because the controller does not drain its outstanding
> pse_control references on unregister. That wider pse_control vs
> pcdev lifetime problem pre-dates this change and is addressed by the
> PSE controller notifier series, which drains phydev->psec on
> PSE_UNREGISTERED before pcdev->pi is freed.
> 
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260620112440.1734404-1-github@xxxxxxxxxxxx/
> Fixes: d83e13761d5b ("net: pse-pd: Use regulator framework within PSE framework")
> Signed-off-by: Corey Leavitt <corey@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Kory Maincent <kory.maincent@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Carlo Szelinsky <github@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> This is patch 1 of the "decouple controller lookup from MDIO probe"
> series, reposted on its own for net as Jakub suggested. The rest of the
> series targets net-next and is deferred until it reopens.
> 
> Changes in v2:
> - Reword the commit message to scope the fix to the regulator handle.
>   As Simon's review pointed out, the same unbind-while-held path also
>   reads pcdev->pi[] and pcdev->owner after pse_release_pis(); that wider
>   pse_control vs pcdev lifetime issue is fixed by the notifier series,
>   not here. No code change.
>   Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260624151251.1137250-1-horms@xxxxxxxxxx/
> v1: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260622192839.2508733-1-github@xxxxxxxxxxxx/

Thanks for the update.

Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@xxxxxxxxxx>