[PATCH v3] Bluetooth: mgmt: reply to cancelled mgmt commands instead of silently dropping

From: Shuai Zhang

Date: Tue Aug 18 2026 - 07:45:02 EST


The kernel sets HCI_AUTO_OFF when a controller is first registered and
starts a 2-second timer. On slower boots bluetoothd and the HCI_AUTO_OFF
timer can race: hci_power_off() is already queued while bluetoothd is
still in the middle of its adapter setup sequence. hci_cmd_sync_clear()
then cancels any pending mgmt commands with -ECANCELED, including the
MGMT_OP_REMOVE_ADV_MONITOR sent by reset_adv_monitors() early in the
setup sequence.

When auto_off=1, hci_dev_close_sync() skips __mgmt_power_off() entirely,
so there is no fallback path to reply to the cancelled commands.
mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete() silently returns on -ECANCELED, leaving
the command with no reply. Since bluez's mgmt queue is strictly serialised,
this stalls all subsequent commands indefinitely, leaving bluetoothd unable
to register the adapter.

Fix by mapping -ECANCELED to MGMT_STATUS_CANCELLED in mgmt_errno_status()
and replying to the cancelled command in mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete()
instead of returning early.

Signed-off-by: Shuai Zhang <shuai.zhang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v3:
- Reply to the cancelled command without taking hdev->lock. The
cancellation path runs from hci_cmd_sync_clear() with
cmd_sync_work_lock held, so taking hdev->lock here would form an
AB-BA deadlock against the remove_adv_monitor() submission path
(flagged by Sashiko). The success path is left unchanged.
- Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260817060134.3298439-1-shuai.zhang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

Changes in v2:
- Drop the mgmt_set_powered_complete() hunk; that -ECANCELED early
return is intentional and its reply is already handled elsewhere.
Keep only mgmt_errno_status() and mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete()
(per Luiz's review).
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260731042920.2431343-1-shuai.zhang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

net/bluetooth/mgmt.c | 14 +++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/bluetooth/mgmt.c b/net/bluetooth/mgmt.c
index ac4864e56..fd045460e 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/mgmt.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/mgmt.c
@@ -301,6 +301,8 @@ static u8 mgmt_errno_status(int err)
return MGMT_STATUS_ALREADY_CONNECTED;
case -ENOTCONN:
return MGMT_STATUS_DISCONNECTED;
+ case -ECANCELED:
+ return MGMT_STATUS_CANCELLED;
}

return MGMT_STATUS_FAILED;
@@ -5675,8 +5677,18 @@ static void mgmt_remove_adv_monitor_complete(struct hci_dev *hdev,
struct mgmt_pending_cmd *cmd = data;
struct mgmt_cp_remove_adv_monitor *cp;

- if (status == -ECANCELED)
+ /* Reply to a cancelled command so bluetoothd's serialised mgmt queue
+ * is not blocked.
+ */
+ if (status == -ECANCELED) {
+ cp = cmd->param;
+ rp.monitor_handle = cp->monitor_handle;
+
+ mgmt_cmd_complete(cmd->sk, cmd->hdev->id, cmd->opcode,
+ mgmt_status(status), &rp, sizeof(rp));
+ mgmt_pending_free(cmd);
return;
+ }

hci_dev_lock(hdev);

--
2.34.1