[PATCH v4] blk-cgroup: fix leaks and online flag on radix_tree_insert failure

From: Tao Cui

Date: Wed Jul 15 2026 - 09:30:33 EST


From: Tao Cui <cuitao@xxxxxxxxxx>

When radix_tree_insert() fails in blkg_create(), the error path has two
issues:

1. blkg->online is set to true unconditionally, even when the blkg was
never fully inserted. Move the assignment inside the success block.

2. The error path calls blkg_put() without first calling
percpu_ref_kill(). Because the refcount is still in percpu mode,
percpu_ref_put() only does this_cpu_sub() without checking for zero,
so blkg_release() is never triggered. This permanently leaks the
blkg memory, its percpu iostat, policy data, the parent blkg
reference, and the cgroup css reference — the latter preventing the
cgroup from ever being destroyed.

Fix by replacing blkg_put() with percpu_ref_kill(), matching the pattern
used in blkg_destroy().

Acked-by: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Tao Cui <cuitao@xxxxxxxxxx>

---
v4:
- Resend. No functional change. Folded in Acked-by from Tejun Heo and
rebased onto current mainline (context-only: the err_put_css label was
renamed to err_free_blkg upstream).

v3:
- Remove the redundant blkg_put() after percpu_ref_kill() to avoid a
double-put that causes the refcount to go negative and bypass
blkg_release(), as pointed out by the sashiko AI review.
v3: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260507061229.57466-1-cuitao@xxxxxxxxxx/

v2:
- Also fix the percpu_ref leak on the radix_tree_insert() error path by
adding percpu_ref_kill() before blkg_put(), as pointed out by the
sashiko AI review.
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260506131124.16755-1-cuitao@xxxxxxxxxx/
---
block/blk-cgroup.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/block/blk-cgroup.c b/block/blk-cgroup.c
index d2a1f5903f24..d9676126c5b5 100644
--- a/block/blk-cgroup.c
+++ b/block/blk-cgroup.c
@@ -434,15 +434,15 @@ static struct blkcg_gq *blkg_create(struct blkcg *blkcg, struct gendisk *disk,
blkg->pd[i]->online = true;
}
}
+ blkg->online = true;
}
- blkg->online = true;
spin_unlock(&blkcg->lock);

if (!ret)
return blkg;

/* @blkg failed fully initialized, use the usual release path */
- blkg_put(blkg);
+ percpu_ref_kill(&blkg->refcnt);
return ERR_PTR(ret);

err_free_blkg:
--
2.43.0