dmaengine: wait for RCU readers before releasing dma_device

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: wait for RCU readers before releasing dma_device dma_issue_pending_all() walks the dma_device_list with list_for_each_entry_rcu() under rcu_read_lock(). dma_device_release() unlinks the device with list_del_rcu() and then calls device->device_release() (which in many drivers, such as plx_dma.c, directly calls kfree()). Because there is no grace period between unlinking the device and freeing it, concurrent RCU readers in dma_issue_pending_all() can access the device after it has been freed. The lockless walk originally relied on clients holding a dmaengine reference to pin the provider module, and therefore the device, for as long as they might traverse the list. Commit 8ad342a86359 ("dmaengine: Add reference counting to dma_device struct") decoupled the dma_device lifetime from the module reference, so the device can now be released while a reader is still walking the list. Add synchronize_rcu() before the device is freed, so RCU readers are guaranteed to have finished. Keep it unconditional: providers that do not implement device_release() free the device themselves once dma_async_device_unregister() returns. This call will delay for a grace period with dma_list_mutex held, which is safe and only teardown path is delayed.

Source published

6 Oct 2026 08:46:32 UTC

Source modified

19 Oct 2026 09:17:53 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

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