Re: [PATCH] wifi: ath11k: release peer accounting on peer delete timeout

[Baochen Qiang]

On 9/22/2026 8:25 PM, Michael Pfeifroth wrote:
> On some deployments access points intermittently stop accepting new
> station associations after several hours of uptime with frequent
> roaming/reconnects. The kernel logs
> 
>   ath11k_pci ....: failed to create peer due to insufficient peer entry resource in firmware
> 
> and hostapd reports "Could not add STA to kernel driver". A "wifi
> down/up" (radio restart) on the affected radio restores service.
> 
> Despite the message text, this is not a firmware peer-table exhaustion.
> The message is emitted by the driver-side gate in ath11k_peer_create():
> 
> 	if (ar->num_peers > (ar->max_num_peers - 1))
> 
> i.e. the driver's own ar->num_peers accounting has leaked and reached
> the ceiling. It is always preceded by a peer-delete that timed out:
> 
>   ath11k_pci ....: invalid vdev id in peer delete resp ev 1
>   ath11k_pci ....: Timeout in receiving peer delete response
>   ath11k_pci ....: failed to delete peer vdev_id .. addr .. ret -110
> 
> On such a timeout __ath11k_peer_delete() returns early without removing
> the local peer object, and ath11k_peer_delete() consequently skips the
> ar->num_peers-- decrement (it only runs on the success path). The normal
> free happens asynchronously in ath11k_peer_unmap_event(), which never

Hmm, I don't think so. host waits for peer unmap event in ath11k_wait_for_peer_deleted(),
before waiting for peer delete response. Since there is no "failed wait for peer deleted"
log, unmap event is good and ath11k_peer_unmap_event() runs.

> runs when the delete response is lost or misrouted (e.g. because the

what does 'misrouted' mean?

> vdev is already gone by the time the response is processed, hence the

I have never seen it, but yeas it can happen theoretically.

> "invalid vdev id in peer delete resp ev" warning). Each timed-out delete
> therefore leaks one ar->num_peers slot until max_num_peers is reached
> and all further ath11k_peer_create() calls fail.
> 
> Free the local peer on the timeout path and return success so that
> ath11k_peer_delete() releases the num_peers slot. The peer has already
> been removed from the rhash earlier in __ath11k_peer_delete(), so only
> the list removal and free remain, mirroring ath11k_peer_unmap_event().
> A late unmap event will then simply fail to find the peer id and log a
> harmless warning instead of touching freed memory.

As stated above peer unmap is good hence peer is already freed there. The code here frees
peer only when it indeed not freed.

> 
> The problem was reproduced deterministically with a fault-injection

curious what the patch does? does it modify ath11k codebase?

> patch that forces the peer-delete wait to time out: after max_num_peers
> such deletes the AP permanently rejects new stations, and with this
> change it keeps accepting them.
> 
> Fixes: 690ace20ff79 ("ath11k: peer delete synchronization with firmware")
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Michael Pfeifroth <micpf@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/peer.c | 16 ++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/peer.c b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/peer.c
> index b30a906..ed2d7d8 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/peer.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath11k/peer.c
> @@ -341,8 +341,20 @@ static int __ath11k_peer_delete(struct ath11k *ar, u32 vdev_id, const u8 *addr)
>  	}
>  
>  	ret = ath11k_wait_for_peer_delete_done(ar, vdev_id, addr);
> -	if (ret)
> -		return ret;
> +	if (ret) {
> +		/* The firmware delete confirmation was lost; free the local

ath11k now follows networking subsystem comment style and it prefers a '/*' by itself on
the first line.

> +		 * peer here (already removed from the rhash above) so that
> +		 * ath11k_peer_delete() releases the ar->num_peers slot instead
> +		 * of leaking it.

the comment needs rephrase to reflect that peer delete needed only when it not freed yet.
> +		 */
> +		spin_lock_bh(&ab->base_lock);
> +		peer = ath11k_peer_find(ab, vdev_id, addr);
> +		if (peer) {
> +			list_del(&peer->list);
> +			kfree(peer);
> +		}
> +		spin_unlock_bh(&ab->base_lock);
> +	}
>  
>  	return 0;
>  }