Re: [PATCH 2/2] reset: Fix circular locking dependency in reset_controller_unregister()

From: Philipp Zabel

Date: Mon Nov 02 2026 - 15:01:42 EST


On Mo, 2026-11-02 at 23:58 +0800, Tzung-Bi Shih wrote:
> reset_control_acquire() and reset_control_put_internal() acquire
> `rcdev->lock` inside the `rstc->srcu` read-side critical section
> (`rstc->srcu` -> `rcdev->lock`).
>
> However, reset_controller_unregister() holds `rcdev->lock` while calling
> synchronize_srcu(&rstc->srcu) (`rcdev->lock` -> `rstc->srcu`), causing a
> lockdep circular locking dependency warning and a potential ABBA
> deadlock.
>
> Run synchronize_srcu() outside `rcdev->lock`.
>
> Fixes: 44a0acb2caca ("reset: protect struct reset_controller_dev with its own mutex")
> Signed-off-by: Tzung-Bi Shih <tzungbi@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> Test:
> With "[PATCH v2] reset: Add KUnit test cases"[1] applied:
> $ ./tools/testing/kunit/kunit.py run \
> --kconfig_add CONFIG_RESET_CONTROLLER=y \
> --kconfig_add CONFIG_RESET_KUNIT_TEST=y \
> --kconfig_add CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING=y \
> --kconfig_add CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=y \
> --kconfig_add CONFIG_KASAN=y \
> --arch=x86_64 \
> --raw_output=all \
> reset_test
>
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261102155207.19252-1-tzungbi@xxxxxxxxxx
> ---
> drivers/reset/core.c | 15 +++++++++++++--
> 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/reset/core.c b/drivers/reset/core.c
> index 1f6d7ef48a67..a36a4d6ff445 100644
> --- a/drivers/reset/core.c
> +++ b/drivers/reset/core.c
> @@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ static void reset_controller_remove(struct reset_controller_dev *rcdev,
> void reset_controller_unregister(struct reset_controller_dev *rcdev)
> {
> struct reset_control *rstc, *pos;
> + LIST_HEAD(reset_control_head);
>
> scoped_guard(mutex, &reset_list_mutex)
> list_del(&rcdev->list);
> @@ -195,12 +196,22 @@ void reset_controller_unregister(struct reset_controller_dev *rcdev)
> list_for_each_entry_safe(rstc, pos, &rcdev->reset_control_head, list) {
> kref_get(&rstc->refcnt);
> rcu_assign_pointer(rstc->rcdev, NULL);
> - synchronize_srcu(&rstc->srcu);

Now reset_controller_remove() can be called while a concurrent reset
operation that got an rcdev reference just before the
rcu_assign_pointer() is about to enter a reset_control_ops callback.

> reset_controller_remove(rcdev, rstc);

I think this should only do the list_del(&rstc->list); ...

> - reset_control_put_internal(rstc);
> + list_add(&rstc->list, &reset_control_head);

... which could be combined with this into list_move(). That would also
make clearer what happens here (move into a temporary list that doesn't
need to be rcdev->lock'ed).

The module_put() and put_device() calls should be deferred into the
loop below, after synchronize_srcu(). We don't make it possible to
unload the reset controller driver module until then.

> }
> }
>
> + /*
> + * Run synchronize_srcu() outside rcdev->lock to avoid a circular
> + * locking dependency with paths that acquire rcdev->lock inside
> + * the rstc->srcu read-side critical section.
> + */
> + list_for_each_entry_safe(rstc, pos, &reset_control_head, list) {
> + list_del(&rstc->list);
> + synchronize_srcu(&rstc->srcu);
> + reset_control_put_internal(rstc);

This shouldn't call reset_control_put_internal(), which is supposed to
be the common internal implementation of the consumer
reset_control_put() API variants.

Rather, I'd prefer this to call ref = kref_put() directly and then put
the "if (ret) { ... }" part of reset_control_put_internal() into a
separate helper function that can be called from here as well.

In case the revocable series gets accepted, this might turn out to be a
non-issue though.

regards
Philipp