Re: [PATCH] serial: mps2-uart: Remove the ports_idr entry when probe fails
From: Vladimir Murzin
Date: Wed Nov 11 2026 - 09:40:40 EST
On 11/6/26 01:06, Changyul Lee wrote:
> mps2_of_get_port() adds mps_port to ports_idr, but mps2_serial_probe()
> does not remove the entry when mps2_init_port() or uart_add_one_port()
> fails. mps_port is allocated with devm_kzalloc(), so devres frees it
> when probe fails, while ports_idr still points to it. When another port
> later registers the console, mps2_uart_console_setup() looks up the
> console index in ports_idr and uses the freed mps_port:
>
> BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in uart_set_options+0x650/0x7a4
> Read of size 8 at addr ffff0000018c41a0 by task swapper/0/1
> Call trace:
> uart_set_options
> mps2_uart_console_setup
> try_enable_preferred_console
> register_console
> serial_core_register_port
> serial_ctrl_register_port
> uart_add_one_port
> mps2_serial_probe
> ...
> Freed by task 1:
> kfree
> dr_node_free
> devres_release_all
> device_unbind_cleanup
> really_probe
>
> The stale entry also keeps the ID in use. A re-probe of the port (e.g.
> after -EPROBE_DEFER) then gets a different ID than its alias.
>
> Remove the entry on both error paths.
>
> Fixes: 9f25e07b882b ("serial: mps2-uart: move to dynamic port allocation")
> Signed-off-by: Changyul Lee <lcy8047@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>
> Notes:
> Found with a static analysis tool we are developing.
>
> Reproduced in QEMU (arm64 virt, CONFIG_COMPILE_TEST, KASAN) with two
> arm,mps2-uart nodes added to the device tree: serial0 without a
> "clocks" property, so devm_clk_get() fails after the ID is allocated,
> and serial1 with a fixed clock, booted with console=ttyMPS0. Without
> this patch KASAN reports the use-after-free above. With it, there is no
> KASAN report and the boot goes on until it looks for a root filesystem
> (the test has none).
> Not tested on MPS2 hardware.
Before getting into the review, I'd like to clarify a few things:
- This driver is only used on a NOMMU platform, where any code
can write to any memory location, so the security impact of
this issue is likely minimal
- The only platform that uses this driver is deprecated and
scheduled for removal [1], with the driver to be removed
afterwards
@Arnd, could you please advise on how to proceed? Should we
review the patch, leave things as they are, or take a different
approach?
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-arm-kernel/20260908152808.3928630-12-arnd@xxxxxxxxxx/
>
> drivers/tty/serial/mps2-uart.c | 8 ++++++--
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/mps2-uart.c b/drivers/tty/serial/mps2-uart.c
> index 2a4c09f3a834..c39aa534b822 100644
> --- a/drivers/tty/serial/mps2-uart.c
> +++ b/drivers/tty/serial/mps2-uart.c
> @@ -590,15 +590,19 @@ static int mps2_serial_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
>
> ret = mps2_init_port(pdev, mps_port);
> if (ret)
> - return ret;
> + goto err_remove_id;
>
> ret = uart_add_one_port(&mps2_uart_driver, &mps_port->port);
> if (ret)
> - return ret;
> + goto err_remove_id;
>
> platform_set_drvdata(pdev, mps_port);
>
> return 0;
> +
> +err_remove_id:
> + idr_remove(&ports_idr, mps_port->port.line);
> + return ret;
> }
>
> #ifdef CONFIG_OF
>
> base-commit: 6628e7d4c6b25c8d18f1345e3a20d21829aae7e4
> -- 2.43.0
>