[PATCH] wifi: ath11k: fix warning when unbinding

[Rameshkumar Sundaram]

On 5/14/2026 11:48 AM, Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez wrote:
> Hello Rameshkumar,
> 
>> I agree that setting tx_status to NULL makes ath11k_dp_free() more
>> defensive, and it matches the ath12k fix.
> Ok, I agree too.
> 
>> However, i am still wondering how the second ath11k_dp_free() is reached
>> if ATH11K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL is set.
>>
>> In ath11k_pci_remove(), when ATH11K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL is set, we take the
>> qmi_fail path and skip ath11k_core_deinit(). So the normal remove path:
>>
>>      ath11k_pci_remove()
>>        ath11k_core_deinit()
>>          ath11k_core_soc_destroy()
>>            ath11k_dp_free()
>>
>> should not run.
>>
>> So if the double free is still reproducible with QMI_FAIL set (with the
>> change i proposed), either the flag is not actually set in this failure
>> case, or there is another path calling ath11k_dp_free() ?
> Let me try to clarify the issue more.
> There are two error actions:
> - First the previous error. I reproduce the situation as I commented: running
> in a VM the default upstream kernel (with this card using PCI passthrough),
> since this is always failing. Let me show the logs in this situation:
> [   15.906564] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: BAR 0 [mem 0xfdc00000-0xfddfffff 64bit]: assigned
> [   15.926520] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: MSI vectors: 32
> [   15.928572] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: wcn6855 hw2.0
> [   16.984192] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: chip_id 0x2 chip_family 0xb board_id 0xff soc_id 0x400c0200
> [   16.984351] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: fw_version 0x11088c35 fw_build_timestamp 2024-04-17 08:34 fw_build_id WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3.6510.41
> [   18.186971] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: failed to receive control response completion, polling..
> [   19.211036] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: Service connect timeout
> [   19.211815] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: failed to connect to HTT: -110
> [   19.214181] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: failed to start core: -110
> [   19.531989] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: firmware crashed: MHI_CB_EE_RDDM
> [   19.532930] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: ignore reset dev flags 0xc000
> [   29.259157] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: failed to wait wlan mode request (mode 4): -110
> [   29.259229] ath11k_pci 0000:07:00.0: qmi failed to send wlan mode off: -110
> - Second after this, I commanded the unbinded (ath11_pci) and I get the
> warning. Let extend here the stack trace:
> [   24.238198]  ? free_large_kmalloc+0x57/0x90
> [   24.238199]  ? report_bug+0x16b/0x180
> [   24.238210]  ? handle_bug+0x3c/0x70
> [   24.238218]  ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x70
> [   24.238218]  ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20
> [   24.238224]  ? free_large_kmalloc+0x57/0x90
> [   24.238227]  ath11k_dp_free+0x99/0xb0 [ath11k]
> [   24.238275]  ath11k_core_deinit+0x12b/0x1a0 [ath11k]
> [   24.238287]  ath11k_pci_remove+0x7b/0x120 [ath11k_pci]
> [   24.238294]  pci_device_remove+0x3e/0xb0
> [   24.238304]  device_release_driver_internal+0x193/0x200
> [   24.238315]  unbind_store+0x9d/0xb0
> [   24.238320]  kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x13a/0x1d0
> [   24.238330]  vfs_write+0x32e/0x470
> [   24.238335]  ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0
> [   24.238336]  do_syscall_64+0x5f/0xe0
> Very easy to reproduce.
> 


Thanks much for the logs, that makes sense. The timestamps explain why 
my earlier reasoning did not match the trace: unbind reaches 
ath11k_pci_remove() before ATH11K_FLAG_QMI_FAIL is set by the QMI event 
worker as it is held up on wlan mode off qmi transaction, so remove 
still takes the normal ath11k_core_deinit() path.


--
Ramesh