[PATCH 1/3] xhci: dbgtty: Fix unregister on tty_register_driver() failure

From: Lucas De Marchi

Date: Mon Jul 20 2026 - 16:31:16 EST


If tty_register_driver() fails, it drops the reference, but fails to set
the global dbc_tty_driver to NULL, causing the unregister to be called
again when module exits.

On module unload dbc_tty_exit() only gates its cleanup on the driver
pointer being non-NULL, so it operates on the already-freed driver:

module_init(xhci_hcd_init)
xhci_hcd_init()
xhci_dbc_init() [return value ignored]
dbc_tty_init()
tty_register_driver() fails
tty_driver_kref_put() -> driver freed
(dbc_tty_driver left dangling)
...
module_exit(xhci_hcd_fini)
xhci_hcd_fini()
xhci_dbc_exit()
dbc_tty_exit()
if (dbc_tty_driver) -> true (dangling)
tty_unregister_driver() -> use-after-free

Fixes: 4521f1613940 ("xhci: dbctty: split dbc tty driver registration and unregistration functions.")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # v5.10
Cc: Mathias Nyman <mathias.nyman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Lucas De Marchi <ldemarchi@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/usb/host/xhci-dbgtty.c | 1 +
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/drivers/usb/host/xhci-dbgtty.c b/drivers/usb/host/xhci-dbgtty.c
index 2e7384c6b6ec..01decd46f313 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/host/xhci-dbgtty.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/host/xhci-dbgtty.c
@@ -651,6 +651,7 @@ int dbc_tty_init(void)
pr_err("Can't register dbc tty driver\n");
tty_driver_kref_put(dbc_tty_driver);
idr_destroy(&dbc_tty_minors);
+ dbc_tty_driver = NULL;
}

return ret;
--
2.54.0