[PATCH v3 0/5] Input: applespi - Fix probe timeout and use-after-free bugs
From: Shih-Yuan Lee
Date: Mon Jul 20 2026 - 12:54:08 EST
This 5-patch series refactors the applespi driver for Apple SPI keyboards and touchpads,
eliminating use-after-free (UAF) race conditions during driver unbind, kernel panics
in debugfs, level-triggered ACPI GPE interrupt storms, and data races.
Specifically, this series:
- Replaces separate drain helpers with a unified wait queue and 3-second timeout barrier,
falling back to unconditional completion waiting if transfers remain active to prevent
premature driver unbind and DMA memory corruption.
- Tracks in-flight asynchronous SPI transfers using a completion tracking array and
cancel_spi flag, ensuring inner completion callbacks execute prior to waking wait
queue waiters to guarantee teardown safety.
- Converts touchpad detection and registration from an asynchronous workqueue worker
to a synchronous probe sequence, while protecting against NULL pointer dereferences in
debugfs during keyboard-only fallback mode.
- Corrects driver unbind sequence by disabling ACPI GPE handlers before marking the driver
as shutting down, avoiding level-triggered interrupt storms on unhandled reads.
Changes in v3:
- Addressed feedback from Sashiko review on the v2 patchset:
- Fixed Use-After-Free in applespi_drain_writes() and applespi_drain_reads()
on timeout by falling back to unconditional wait (wait_event_lock_irq()) if
transfers are still active upon 3-second timeout expiry.
- Activated cancel_spi tracking flag by setting cancel_spi = true in drain functions
under cmd_msg_lock to reject new async requests (-ESHUTDOWN) and trigger wait
queue wakeups.
- Fixed completion callback race in applespi_async_complete() by invoking inner
complete(applespi) callback BEFORE clearing tracking slot and waking waiters
on wait_queue.
- Fixed NULL pointer dereference in applespi_tp_dim_open() when touchpad registration
fails or times out, returning -ENODEV if touchpad_input_dev is NULL.
- Protected rcvd_tp_info from data races in probe by making a safe local copy under
cmd_msg_lock before passing to applespi_register_touchpad_device().
- Fixed GPE Interrupt Storm during unbind in applespi_remove() by disabling and
removing GPE handler BEFORE setting cancel_spi = true and waiting for transfers to drain.
Changes since v1:
- Split the large touchpad registration patch into 4 distinct, single-purpose
commits (wait queue consolidation & timeouts, async queue slots tracking,
synchronous registration, and async probe preference) for better readability.
- Fixed a self-deadlock in applespi_async() where it attempted to acquire
cmd_msg_lock while already held by applespi_notify() and other callers.
- Updated applespi_async() to assert the lock is held by the caller.
- Protected touchpad info flags under cmd_msg_lock in response handling.
- Simplified applespi_tp_dim_open() by removing redundant NULL checks.
- Overhauled GPE disabling and teardown order in applespi_remove() to prevent
GPE interrupt storms and unbind deadlocks.
- Addressed reviewer feedback from Sashiko.
Shih-Yuan Lee (5):
Input: applespi - use unified wait queue with timeouts for drain
Input: applespi - track asynchronous SPI transfers in flight
Input: applespi - register touchpad synchronously in probe
Input: applespi - prefer asynchronous driver probing
Input: applespi - fix use-after-free in applespi_remove()
drivers/input/keyboard/applespi.c | 208 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 175 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)
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2.39.5