[PATCH net] net: atl1c: free the RX buffer when the descriptor reports an error

From: Federico Musto

Date: Tue Oct 27 2026 - 08:14:54 EST


atl1c_clean_rx() drops a frame whose return descriptor carries
RRS_RX_ERR_SUM or RRS_802_3_LEN_ERR by calling atl1c_clean_rfd(), which
only marks the RFD free and clears the skb pointer. Nothing unmaps the DMA
mapping and nothing frees the skb, so every errored frame - CRC, alignment,
truncation, runt - leaks one skb and one DMA mapping. The driver uses a
32-bit DMA mask, so on a host without an IOMMU each of those mappings also
pins a swiotlb slot.

Unmap and free before the RFD is recycled, the same way the good path does.
The hardware already counts these frames in its own error counters, which
atl1c_get_stats() reports, so no software counter is added here.

Fixes: 43250ddd75a3 ("atl1c: Atheros L1C Gigabit Ethernet driver")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Federico Musto <federico@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Spotted while reviewing a fix for a different problem in the same function
(skb_over_panic on oversized RX frames), by the Sashiko review bot. It is
independent of that patch and applies on its own.

The guard on buffer_info->skb is there because the slot can be empty after a
reset; rfd_num != 1 stays on the old path, since multi-RFD is not supported
by this driver anywhere else either.
---
drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c/atl1c_main.c | 17 +++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c/atl1c_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c/atl1c_main.c
index e58f1d2..2d68955 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c/atl1c_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/atheros/atl1c/atl1c_main.c
@@ -1908,6 +1908,23 @@ static int atl1c_clean_rx(struct napi_struct *napi, int budget)
rrs_checked:
atl1c_clean_rrd(rrd_ring, rrs, rfd_num);
if (rrs->word3 & (RRS_RX_ERR_SUM | RRS_802_3_LEN_ERR)) {
+ /* The RFD is recycled below, and that drops the only
+ * pointer to the buffer: unmap and free it first, or the
+ * skb and its DMA mapping leak on every errored frame.
+ */
+ if (likely(rfd_num == 1)) {
+ rfd_index = (rrs->word0 >> RRS_RX_RFD_INDEX_SHIFT) &
+ RRS_RX_RFD_INDEX_MASK;
+ buffer_info = &rfd_ring->buffer_info[rfd_index];
+ if (buffer_info->skb) {
+ dma_unmap_single(&pdev->dev,
+ buffer_info->dma,
+ buffer_info->length,
+ DMA_FROM_DEVICE);
+ kfree_skb_reason(buffer_info->skb,
+ SKB_DROP_REASON_NOT_SPECIFIED);
+ }
+ }
atl1c_clean_rfd(rfd_ring, rrs, rfd_num);
if (netif_msg_rx_err(adapter))
dev_warn(&pdev->dev,
--
2.54.0 (Apple Git-157)