[PATCH 2/2] wifi: ath12k: skip unknown direct buffer ring module IDs

[Nazar Mokrynskyi]

Anything else I can do to help upstream some version of these patches?
I've been running them for another 1.5 months with no issues.

Sincerely, Nazar Mokrynskyi
github.com/nazar-pc

11.05.26 23:10, Nazar Mokrynskyi:
> 11.05.26 22:02, Jeff Johnson:
>> On 5/5/2026 10:24 AM, Nazar Mokrynskyi wrote:
>>> The firmware may advertise direct buffer ring capabilities for module
>>> IDs beyond what the driver currently knows about (WMI_DIRECT_BUF_MAX).
>>> This happens with newer firmware versions that support additional ring
>>> types not yet implemented in the driver.
>> What "newer firmware version" are you using that has this issue?
>>
>> Can you share the "Skipping unknown direct buf ring module id" logs from your
>> modified driver?
> ID is the same as in the original warning:
>
> [   10.611560] ath12k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Invalid module id 2
> [   10.616467] ath12k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to parse tlv -22
>
> The firmware according to system logs (all this info is provided in [PATCH 0/2] email):
>
> [    7.688137] ath12k_pci 0000:01:00.0: fw_version 0x160484db fw_build_timestamp 2025-12-09 20:09 fw_build_id QC_IMAGE_VERSION_STRING=WLAN.WBE.1.6-01243-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
>
> This is running on OpenWRT 25.12, which uses 6.12.74 kernel with modules backported from 6.18.7 kernel:
> [    0.000000] Linux version 6.12.74 (builder at buildhost) (x86_64-openwrt-linux-musl-gcc (OpenWrt GCC 14.3.0 r32802-f505120278) 14.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.44) #0 SMP Wed Mar 25 20:09:53 2026
> [    6.997293] Loading modules backported from Linux version v6.18.7-0-g5dfbc5357
> [    6.999210] Backport generated by backports.git c8a37ce
>
>>> The current code treats an unknown module_id as a fatal error, returning
>>> -EINVAL and tearing down the entire driver initialization. This is
>>> incorrect: the driver only needs to set up rings for types it uses
>>> (SPECTRAL=0, CFR=1) and can safely ignore capability advertisements for
>>> unknown types.
>>>
>>> Change the unknown module_id handling to skip the entry with a debug
>>> message rather than failing, allowing initialization to proceed.
>>>
>>> Tested-on: QCN9274 hw2.0 PCI WLAN.WBE.1.6-01243-QCAHKSWPL_SILICONZ-1
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Nazar Mokrynskyi <nazar at mokrynskyi.com>
>>> ---
>>>  drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c | 12 ++++--------
>>>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c
>>> index 484fdd3b1..0e776a8d8 100644
>>> --- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c
>>> +++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath12k/wmi.c
>>> @@ -4814,10 +4814,10 @@ static int ath12k_wmi_dma_ring_caps(struct ath12k_base *ab,
>>>  	dir_buff_caps = ab->db_caps;
>>>  	for (i = 0; i < dma_caps_parse->n_dma_ring_caps; i++) {
>>>  		if (le32_to_cpu(dma_caps[i].module_id) >= WMI_DIRECT_BUF_MAX) {
>>> -			ath12k_warn(ab, "Invalid module id %d\n",
>>> -				    le32_to_cpu(dma_caps[i].module_id));
>>> -			ret = -EINVAL;
>>> -			goto free_dir_buff;
>>> +			ath12k_dbg(ab, ATH12K_DBG_WMI,
>>> +				   "Skipping unknown direct buf ring module id %d\n",
>>> +				   le32_to_cpu(dma_caps[i].module_id));
>>> +			continue;
>> by continuing you don't populate the dir_buff_caps[i] information below,
>> leaving that record with zeroed data from the initial allocation. Does other
>> code correctly handle that?
>>
>> would it be better to have a separate count of the number of dir_buff_caps
>> records that are actually filled, and then update
>> dma_caps_parse->n_dma_ring_caps to match once the parsing has completed?
> I'm very far from kernel development, let alone ath12k driver specifically.
> The patch is provided to better showcase the problems I had.
> If there is a better way to address it, I'd really appreciate if someone more knowledgeable could take over, I just hope this is helpful.
>
> With these changes QCN9274 runs an access point with over 3 weeks uptime as of right now.
> That is not necessary the proof of anything, but it does seem to work in practice so far.
>>>  		}
>>>  
>>>  		dir_buff_caps[i].id = le32_to_cpu(dma_caps[i].module_id);
>>> @@ -4829,10 +4829,6 @@ static int ath12k_wmi_dma_ring_caps(struct ath12k_base *ab,
>>>  	}
>>>  
>>>  	return 0;
>>> -
>>> -free_dir_buff:
>>> -	ath12k_wmi_free_dbring_caps(ab);
>>> -	return ret;
>>>  }
>>>  
>>>  static void