possible deadlock in posix_clock_unregister

Status: upstream: reported on 2026/09/18 10:02
Reported-by: syzbot+bdf3e245ba463d80df61@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 2d13h, last: now
Similar bugs (1)
Kernel Title Rank 🛈 Repro Cause bisect Fix bisect Count Last Reported Patched Status
upstream possible deadlock in posix_clock_unregister kernel 4 16 402d 442d 29/29 fixed on 2025/10/09 01:15

Sample crash report:
ptp ptp0: delete virtual clock ptp5
======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
syzkaller #0 Not tainted
------------------------------------------------------
syz.5.2023/12350 is trying to acquire lock:
ffff88805684c130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: posix_clock_unregister+0x5b/0xc0 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:207

but task is already holding lock:
ffff88802e4e18f0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: n_vclocks_store+0xfc/0x750 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:202

which lock already depends on the new lock.


the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #1 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}:
       __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:603 [inline]
       __mutex_lock+0x12d/0xae0 kernel/locking/mutex.c:747
       ptp_vclock_in_use drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:104 [inline]
       ptp_clock_freerun drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:121 [inline]
       ptp_clock_adjtime+0x12f/0x870 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:111
       pc_clock_adjtime+0x1d4/0x260 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:262
       do_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1155 [inline]
       __do_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1167 [inline]
       __se_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158 [inline]
       __x64_sys_clock_adjtime+0x240/0x320 kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158
       do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
       do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2

-> #0 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}:
       check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3095 [inline]
       check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3214 [inline]
       validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3830 [inline]
       __lock_acquire+0x2d18/0x7c40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5063
       lock_acquire+0x1bb/0x4a0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5678
       down_write+0x36/0x60 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1573
       posix_clock_unregister+0x5b/0xc0 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:207
       ptp_clock_unregister+0x18a/0x200 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:391
       ptp_vclock_unregister+0x110/0x140 drivers/ptp/ptp_vclock.c:230
       unregister_vclock+0xca/0x130 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:164
       device_for_each_child_reverse+0x112/0x1b0 drivers/base/core.c:4073
       n_vclocks_store+0x226/0x750 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:228
       kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x3a0/0x520 fs/kernfs/file.c:352
       call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2271 [inline]
       new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline]
       vfs_write+0x482/0x9a0 fs/read_write.c:584
       ksys_write+0x14d/0x260 fs/read_write.c:637
       do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
       do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2

other info that might help us debug this:

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(&ptp->n_vclocks_mux);
                               lock(&clk->rwsem);
                               lock(&ptp->n_vclocks_mux);
  lock(&clk->rwsem);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

5 locks held by syz.5.2023/12350:
 #0: ffff88807c26bc68 (&f->f_pos_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __fdget_pos+0x2ae/0x360 fs/file.c:1038
 #1: ffff888030366460 (sb_writers#8){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: vfs_write+0x270/0x9a0 fs/read_write.c:580
 #2: ffff88807a3a3888 (&of->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x1d8/0x520 fs/kernfs/file.c:343
 #3: ffff88802e3abae8 (kn->active#73){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: kernfs_get_active_of fs/kernfs/file.c:80 [inline]
 #3: ffff88802e3abae8 (kn->active#73){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x232/0x520 fs/kernfs/file.c:344
 #4: ffff88802e4e18f0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: n_vclocks_store+0xfc/0x750 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:202

stack backtrace:
CPU: 0 PID: 12350 Comm: syz.5.2023 Not tainted syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x188/0x24e lib/dump_stack.c:106
 check_noncircular+0x296/0x330 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2170
 check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3095 [inline]
 check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3214 [inline]
 validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3830 [inline]
 __lock_acquire+0x2d18/0x7c40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5063
 lock_acquire+0x1bb/0x4a0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5678
 down_write+0x36/0x60 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1573
 posix_clock_unregister+0x5b/0xc0 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:207
 ptp_clock_unregister+0x18a/0x200 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:391
 ptp_vclock_unregister+0x110/0x140 drivers/ptp/ptp_vclock.c:230
 unregister_vclock+0xca/0x130 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:164
 device_for_each_child_reverse+0x112/0x1b0 drivers/base/core.c:4073
 n_vclocks_store+0x226/0x750 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:228
 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x3a0/0x520 fs/kernfs/file.c:352
 call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2271 [inline]
 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline]
 vfs_write+0x482/0x9a0 fs/read_write.c:584
 ksys_write+0x14d/0x260 fs/read_write.c:637
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2
RIP: 0033:0x7fa39159e159
Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007fa392384028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fa391825fa0 RCX: 00007fa39159e159
RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000200000000200 RDI: 0000000000000003
RBP: 00007fa39163506b R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007fa391826038 R14: 00007fa391825fa0 R15: 00007fff4f0aba28
 </TASK>
ptp ptp0: delete virtual clock ptp4
ptp ptp0: delete virtual clock ptp3
ptp ptp0: delete virtual clock ptp2
ptp ptp0: delete virtual clock ptp1
ptp ptp0: only physical clock in use now

Crashes (3):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/09/18 10:02 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 853b104b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan possible deadlock in posix_clock_unregister
2026/09/18 10:02 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 853b104b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan possible deadlock in posix_clock_unregister
2026/09/20 23:49 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 853b104b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan-arm64 possible deadlock in posix_clock_unregister
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.