[PATCH] workqueue: fix wq->cpu_pwq leak in alloc_and_link_pwqs() WQ_UNBOUND path
From: Breno Leitao
Date: Fri May 08 2026 - 12:24:03 EST
For WQ_UNBOUND workqueues, alloc_and_link_pwqs() allocates wq->cpu_pwq
via alloc_percpu() and then calls apply_workqueue_attrs_locked(). On
failure it returns the error directly, bypassing the enomem: label
which holds the only free_percpu(wq->cpu_pwq) in this function.
The caller's error path kfree()s wq without touching wq->cpu_pwq,
leaking one percpu pointer table (nr_cpu_ids * sizeof(void *) bytes) per
failed call.
If kmemleak is enabled, we can see:
unreferenced object (percpu) 0xc0fffa5b121048 (size 8):
comm "insmod", pid 776, jiffies 4294682844
backtrace (crc 0):
pcpu_alloc_noprof+0x665/0xac0
__alloc_workqueue+0x33f/0xa20
alloc_workqueue_noprof+0x60/0x100
Route the error through the existing enomem: cleanup and any error
before this one.
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 636b927eba5b ("workqueue: Make unbound workqueues to use per-cpu pool_workqueues")
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/workqueue.c | 4 +++-
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
index 3d2e3b2ec5283..3b839ddf2fdd2 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue.c
+++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
@@ -5642,7 +5642,9 @@ static int alloc_and_link_pwqs(struct workqueue_struct *wq)
ret = apply_workqueue_attrs_locked(wq, unbound_std_wq_attrs[highpri]);
}
- return ret;
+ if (ret)
+ goto enomem;
+ return 0;
enomem:
if (wq->cpu_pwq) {
---
base-commit: fcee7d82f27d6a8b1ddc5bbefda59b4e441e9bc0
change-id: 20260508-wq_leak-6c48e722bdc2
Best regards,
--
Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx>