[PATCH v3] Bluetooth: l2cap: defer conn param update to avoid conn->lock/hdev->lock inversion

From: Mikhail Gavrilov

Date: Mon Apr 13 2026 - 19:08:57 EST


When a BLE peripheral sends an L2CAP Connection Parameter Update Request
the processing path is:

process_pending_rx() [takes conn->lock]
l2cap_le_sig_channel()
l2cap_conn_param_update_req()
hci_le_conn_update() [takes hdev->lock]

Meanwhile other code paths take the locks in the opposite order:

l2cap_chan_connect() [takes hdev->lock]
...
mutex_lock(&conn->lock)

l2cap_conn_ready() [hdev->lock via hci_cb_list_lock]
...
mutex_lock(&conn->lock)

This is a classic AB/BA deadlock which lockdep reports as a circular
locking dependency when connecting a BLE MIDI keyboard (Carry-On FC-49).

Fix this by making hci_le_conn_update() defer the HCI command through
hci_cmd_sync_queue() so it no longer needs to take hdev->lock in the
caller context.

The connection parameter storage (hci_conn_params update) and userspace
notification (mgmt_new_conn_param) are moved into
hci_le_conn_update_complete_evt() where they are handled when the
controller confirms the update, using hci_sent_cmd_data() to retrieve
the originally requested min/max interval values.

Fixes: f044eb0524a0 ("Bluetooth: Store latency and supervision timeout in connection params")
Signed-off-by: Mikhail Gavrilov <mikhail.v.gavrilov@xxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Paul Menzel <pmenzel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

Changes in v3 (Luiz Augusto von Dentz):
- Move hci_cmd_sync_queue into hci_le_conn_update itself instead of open-coding
the deferral in l2cap_core.c
- Move conn_params update and mgmt_new_conn_param into
hci_le_conn_update_complete_evt, using hci_sent_cmd_data to retrieve
the originally requested parameters

Changes in v2 (Paul Menzel, Sashiko/Gemini AI review):
- Allocate before sending ACCEPTED response to avoid state mismatch on OOM
- Verify connection handle and address in sync callback against reuse race
- Expand commit message with implementation details

include/net/bluetooth/hci_core.h | 2 +-
net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c | 66 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------
net/bluetooth/hci_event.c | 33 ++++++++++++++++
net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c | 12 +-----
4 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 32 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/net/bluetooth/hci_core.h b/include/net/bluetooth/hci_core.h
index a7bffb908c1e..aa600fbf9a53 100644
--- a/include/net/bluetooth/hci_core.h
+++ b/include/net/bluetooth/hci_core.h
@@ -2495,7 +2495,7 @@ void mgmt_adv_monitor_device_lost(struct hci_dev *hdev, u16 handle,
bdaddr_t *bdaddr, u8 addr_type);

int hci_abort_conn(struct hci_conn *conn, u8 reason);
-u8 hci_le_conn_update(struct hci_conn *conn, u16 min, u16 max, u16 latency,
+void hci_le_conn_update(struct hci_conn *conn, u16 min, u16 max, u16 latency,
u16 to_multiplier);
void hci_le_start_enc(struct hci_conn *conn, __le16 ediv, __le64 rand,
__u8 ltk[16], __u8 key_size);
diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
index 11d3ad8d2551..207221560a02 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_conn.c
@@ -480,40 +480,64 @@ bool hci_setup_sync(struct hci_conn *conn, __u16 handle)
return hci_setup_sync_conn(conn, handle);
}

-u8 hci_le_conn_update(struct hci_conn *conn, u16 min, u16 max, u16 latency,
- u16 to_multiplier)
+struct le_conn_update_data {
+ struct hci_conn *conn;
+ u16 min;
+ u16 max;
+ u16 latency;
+ u16 to_multiplier;
+};
+
+static int le_conn_update_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data)
{
- struct hci_dev *hdev = conn->hdev;
- struct hci_conn_params *params;
+ struct le_conn_update_data *d = data;
+ struct hci_conn *conn;
struct hci_cp_le_conn_update cp;

hci_dev_lock(hdev);
-
- params = hci_conn_params_lookup(hdev, &conn->dst, conn->dst_type);
- if (params) {
- params->conn_min_interval = min;
- params->conn_max_interval = max;
- params->conn_latency = latency;
- params->supervision_timeout = to_multiplier;
- }
-
+ /* Verify connection is still alive. */
+ conn = hci_conn_valid(hdev, d->conn) ? d->conn : NULL;
hci_dev_unlock(hdev);
+ if (!conn)
+ return -ECANCELED;

memset(&cp, 0, sizeof(cp));
cp.handle = cpu_to_le16(conn->handle);
- cp.conn_interval_min = cpu_to_le16(min);
- cp.conn_interval_max = cpu_to_le16(max);
- cp.conn_latency = cpu_to_le16(latency);
- cp.supervision_timeout = cpu_to_le16(to_multiplier);
+ cp.conn_interval_min = cpu_to_le16(d->min);
+ cp.conn_interval_max = cpu_to_le16(d->max);
+ cp.conn_latency = cpu_to_le16(d->latency);
+ cp.supervision_timeout = cpu_to_le16(d->to_multiplier);
cp.min_ce_len = cpu_to_le16(0x0000);
cp.max_ce_len = cpu_to_le16(0x0000);

- hci_send_cmd(hdev, HCI_OP_LE_CONN_UPDATE, sizeof(cp), &cp);
+ return __hci_cmd_sync_status(hdev, HCI_OP_LE_CONN_UPDATE,
+ sizeof(cp), &cp, HCI_CMD_TIMEOUT);
+}
+
+static void le_conn_update_complete(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data,
+ int err)
+{
+ kfree(data);
+}

- if (params)
- return 0x01;
+void hci_le_conn_update(struct hci_conn *conn, u16 min, u16 max, u16 latency,
+ u16 to_multiplier)
+{
+ struct le_conn_update_data *d;

- return 0x00;
+ d = kmalloc(sizeof(*d), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!d)
+ return;
+
+ d->conn = conn;
+ d->min = min;
+ d->max = max;
+ d->latency = latency;
+ d->to_multiplier = to_multiplier;
+
+ if (hci_cmd_sync_queue(conn->hdev, le_conn_update_sync, d,
+ le_conn_update_complete) < 0)
+ kfree(d);
}

void hci_le_start_enc(struct hci_conn *conn, __le16 ediv, __le64 rand,
diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
index 3ebc5e6d45d9..9df8fc762a84 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_event.c
@@ -6065,6 +6065,8 @@ static void hci_le_conn_update_complete_evt(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data,
struct sk_buff *skb)
{
struct hci_ev_le_conn_update_complete *ev = data;
+ struct hci_cp_le_conn_update *sent;
+ struct hci_conn_params *params;
struct hci_conn *conn;

bt_dev_dbg(hdev, "status 0x%2.2x", ev->status);
@@ -6079,6 +6081,37 @@ static void hci_le_conn_update_complete_evt(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data,
conn->le_conn_interval = le16_to_cpu(ev->interval);
conn->le_conn_latency = le16_to_cpu(ev->latency);
conn->le_supv_timeout = le16_to_cpu(ev->supervision_timeout);
+
+ /* Update stored connection parameters and notify userspace
+ * using the parameters from the original HCI command.
+ */
+ sent = hci_sent_cmd_data(hdev, HCI_OP_LE_CONN_UPDATE);
+ if (sent) {
+ u8 store_hint;
+
+ params = hci_conn_params_lookup(hdev, &conn->dst,
+ conn->dst_type);
+ if (params) {
+ params->conn_min_interval =
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_interval_min);
+ params->conn_max_interval =
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_interval_max);
+ params->conn_latency =
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_latency);
+ params->supervision_timeout =
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->supervision_timeout);
+ store_hint = 0x01;
+ } else {
+ store_hint = 0x00;
+ }
+
+ mgmt_new_conn_param(hdev, &conn->dst, conn->dst_type,
+ store_hint,
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_interval_min),
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_interval_max),
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->conn_latency),
+ le16_to_cpu(sent->supervision_timeout));
+ }
}

hci_dev_unlock(hdev);
diff --git a/net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c b/net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c
index 95c65fece39b..aac2db1d6fbb 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/l2cap_core.c
@@ -4706,16 +4706,8 @@ static inline int l2cap_conn_param_update_req(struct l2cap_conn *conn,
l2cap_send_cmd(conn, cmd->ident, L2CAP_CONN_PARAM_UPDATE_RSP,
sizeof(rsp), &rsp);

- if (!err) {
- u8 store_hint;
-
- store_hint = hci_le_conn_update(hcon, min, max, latency,
- to_multiplier);
- mgmt_new_conn_param(hcon->hdev, &hcon->dst, hcon->dst_type,
- store_hint, min, max, latency,
- to_multiplier);
-
- }
+ if (!err)
+ hci_le_conn_update(hcon, min, max, latency, to_multiplier);

return 0;
}
--
2.53.0