The reason we defer kfree until release function is because it's a general rule for kobjects: kfree of the reference counter itself is only legal in the release function. Previous patch didn't make this clear, document this in code. Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@xxxxxxxxxx> --- drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c | 3 +++ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c index 4beaee3..a5486e6 100644 --- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c +++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_pci_legacy.c @@ -216,6 +216,9 @@ static void virtio_pci_release_dev(struct device *_d) struct virtio_device *vdev = dev_to_virtio(_d); struct virtio_pci_device *vp_dev = to_vp_device(vdev); + /* As struct device is a kobject, it's not safe to + * free the memory (including the reference counter itself) + * until it's release callback. */ kfree(vp_dev); } -- MST -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe stable" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html