[PATCH wireless] wifi: b43: map the RX buffers DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL

From: Rosen Penev

Date: Fri Oct 23 2026 - 15:11:50 EST


b43 poisons each RX buffer before it hands it to the device, and drops
a buffer that still carries the poison, as the device sometimes skips
one. The RX buffers are mapped and synced DMA_FROM_DEVICE. On a
non-coherent CPU like the BCM4716 or the BCM4708, the map and the sync
for the device then only invalidate the cache, so the poison written
just before never reaches memory. A skipped buffer is read as whatever
the memory held before, for a recycled buffer the data of its previous
use: garbage frames, or a length that sends dma_rx() into its path for
frames spanning several buffers.

Map, sync and unmap the RX buffers DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL, so that the
poison is written back before the device gets the buffer.

Reported on a Netgear R6400 (BCM4708, BCM4331).

Fixes: cf68636a9773 ("b43: Refresh RX poison on buffer recycling")
Signed-off-by: Rosen Penev <rosenp@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/dma.c | 14 ++++++++++----
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/dma.c b/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/dma.c
index 05da6987a845..c8585c6dff37 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/dma.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/b43/dma.c
@@ -353,8 +353,14 @@ static inline
dmaaddr = dma_map_single(ring->dev->dev->dma_dev,
buf, len, DMA_TO_DEVICE);
} else {
+ /*
+ * Not DMA_FROM_DEVICE: on a non-coherent CPU, the map and
+ * the sync for the device would then only invalidate the
+ * cache, and the poison of b43_poison_rx_buffer() would
+ * never reach memory.
+ */
dmaaddr = dma_map_single(ring->dev->dev->dma_dev,
- buf, len, DMA_FROM_DEVICE);
+ buf, len, DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL);
}

return dmaaddr;
@@ -369,7 +375,7 @@ static inline
addr, len, DMA_TO_DEVICE);
} else {
dma_unmap_single(ring->dev->dev->dma_dev,
- addr, len, DMA_FROM_DEVICE);
+ addr, len, DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL);
}
}

@@ -379,7 +385,7 @@ static inline
{
B43_WARN_ON(ring->tx);
dma_sync_single_for_cpu(ring->dev->dev->dma_dev,
- addr, len, DMA_FROM_DEVICE);
+ addr, len, DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL);
}

static inline
@@ -388,7 +394,7 @@ static inline
{
B43_WARN_ON(ring->tx);
dma_sync_single_for_device(ring->dev->dev->dma_dev,
- addr, len, DMA_FROM_DEVICE);
+ addr, len, DMA_BIDIRECTIONAL);
}

static inline
--
2.56.0