Subject: Re: [PATCH net] net: ethernet: cortina: Fix SKB leak

From: Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:14:44 -0700

On Mon, 30 Mar 2026 08:00:29 +0200 Linus Walleij wrote:
> From: Andreas Haarmann-Thiemann <[email-masked]>
> 
> Under sustained RX load (e.g. large file transfers over the network), the
> device freezes completely and requires a hard power cycle. No kernel panic
> or oops is produced; the system simply stops responding.
> 
> In gmac_rx() (drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c), when
> gmac_get_queue_page() returns NULL for the second page of a multi-page
> fragment, the driver logs an error and continues — but does not free the
> in-progress skb that was already being assembled via napi_build_skb() /
> napi_get_frags():
> 
>     gpage = gmac_get_queue_page(geth, port, mapping + PAGE_SIZE);
>     if (!gpage) {
>         dev_err(geth->dev, "could not find mapping\n");
>         /* BUG: skb leaked here */
>         port->stats.rx_dropped++;
>        continue;
>     }
> 
> This path is distinct from the similar block in gmac_cleanup_rxq(), which
> correctly only logs "could not find page" without an skb in flight.
> 
> Each occurrence of this error path leaks one skb. Under sustained traffic
> the leak exhausts kernel memory, causing the observed lockup.
> 
> Free the in-progress skb via napi_free_frags() before continuing, matching
> the pattern already used elsewhere in the driver.
> 
> Fixes: 4d5ae32f5e1e ("net: ethernet: Add a driver for Gemini gigabit ethernet")
> Signed-off-by: Andreas Haarmann-Thiemann <[email-masked]>
> Signed-off-by: Linus Walleij <[email-masked]>

Thanks for handling (what I assume to be) an external report Linus!

Not sure I'm connecting the dots here, tho.
Apparently skb is a static variable in this function(!?) so the skb
should be flushed on the next SOP?

Also I don't see how potential memory leak squares with the first
sentence of the commit which reads:

  device freezes completely and requires a hard power cycle

how can kernel mem leak cause a device to wedge?

> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c
> index 4824232f4890..723d90d5fdf3 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cortina/gemini.c
> @@ -1491,6 +1491,10 @@ static unsigned int gmac_rx(struct net_device *netdev, unsigned int budget)
>  		gpage = gmac_get_queue_page(geth, port, mapping + PAGE_SIZE);
>  		if (!gpage) {
>  			dev_err(geth->dev, "could not find mapping\n");
> +			if (skb) {
> +				napi_free_frags(&port->napi);
> +				skb = NULL;
> +			}
>  			continue;
>  		}
>  		page = gpage->page;
> 
> ---
> base-commit: 6de23f81a5e08be8fbf5e8d7e9febc72a5b5f27f
> change-id: 20260330-gemini-ethernet-fix-604c28c53da1
> 
> Best regards,