[PATCH 1/2] wifi: mac80211: release mesh path quota on failed additions

From: Zhao Li

Date: Wed Sep 16 2026 - 07:52:31 EST


Repeated failed or duplicate mesh path additions can exhaust
MESH_MAX_MPATHS while the path table holds fewer paths, which stops new
paths to reachable destinations from being created.

mesh_path_add() reserves a slot before allocating and inserting a path.
If allocation fails, the function returns without releasing the slot. If
the rhashtable insertion reports an error or an existing destination, the
function discards its candidate but retains the reservation. No new path
is installed in any of these cases.

Release the reservation whenever the candidate is not installed.

Fixes: ae76eef027f7 ("mac80211: return new mpath from mesh_path_add()")
Fixes: 60854fd94573 ("mac80211: mesh: convert path table to rhashtable")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assisted-by: LLM sparse kasan
Signed-off-by: Zhao Li <enderaoelyther@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Validation:
- GCC W=1 and Sparse C=2 produced no diagnostics.
- A controlled production-helper matrix reproduced the allocation,
insertion, and duplicate reservation leaks. Allocation and insertion
errors used test-only fault injection; 24/24 concurrent same-destination
trials leaked a reservation before the fix and 0/24 after. That case used
no forced-failure hook.
- A two-point hwsim 802.11s run reached production mesh_path_add() from
mesh_nexthop_resolve() and hwmp_route_info_get() during PREQ/PREP
processing. No physical-radio or layer-3 success is claimed.

net/mac80211/mesh_pathtbl.c | 5 ++++-
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/mac80211/mesh_pathtbl.c b/net/mac80211/mesh_pathtbl.c
index 03171cf00855..770fc16b439b 100644
--- a/net/mac80211/mesh_pathtbl.c
+++ b/net/mac80211/mesh_pathtbl.c
@@ -694,8 +694,10 @@ struct mesh_path *mesh_path_add(struct ieee80211_sub_if_data *sdata,
return ERR_PTR(-ENOSPC);

new_mpath = mesh_path_new(sdata, dst, GFP_ATOMIC);
- if (!new_mpath)
+ if (!new_mpath) {
+ atomic_dec(&sdata->u.mesh.mpaths);
return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+ }

tbl = &sdata->u.mesh.mesh_paths;
spin_lock_bh(&tbl->walk_lock);
@@ -708,6 +710,7 @@ struct mesh_path *mesh_path_add(struct ieee80211_sub_if_data *sdata,

if (mpath) {
kfree(new_mpath);
+ atomic_dec(&sdata->u.mesh.mpaths);

if (IS_ERR(mpath))
return mpath;
--
2.55.0