On Tue, 25 Oct 2022 00:58:57 +0800 kernel test robot wrote: > drivers/net/phy/phylink.c:588 phylink_validate_mask_caps() warn: variable dereferenced before check 'state' (see line 583) Hi Russell, I think the warning is semi-legit. Your commit f392a1846489 ("net: phylink: provide phylink_validate_mask_caps() helper") added an if (state) before defer'ing state but it's already deref'ed higher up so can't be null.