possible deadlock in worker_thread

Status: upstream: reported C repro on 2026/08/06 23:32
Reported-by: syzbot+caf10f0d2e95c5109993@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 43d, last: 1d08h
Similar bugs (5)
Kernel Title Rank 🛈 Repro Cause bisect Fix bisect Count Last Reported Patched Status
upstream possible deadlock in worker_thread rdma 4 1 1685d 1681d 22/29 fixed on 2023/02/24 14:17
linux-6.1 possible deadlock in worker_thread 4 7 3d02h 45d 0/3 upstream: reported on 2026/08/05 01:02
upstream possible deadlock in worker_thread (4) prio:low kernel 4 3 16d 101d 0/29 upstream: reported on 2026/06/09 22:53
upstream possible deadlock in worker_thread (3) kernel prio:low 4 1 214d 210d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2026/05/27 16:37
upstream possible deadlock in worker_thread (2) kernel 4 1 457d 453d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2025/09/27 01:36

Sample crash report:
======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
syzkaller #0 Not tainted
------------------------------------------------------
kworker/0:0/7 is trying to acquire lock:
ffff888147899030 ((work_completion)(&queue->io_work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: __flush_work+0xfa/0x210 kernel/workqueue.c:3090

but task is already holding lock:
ffffc90000cc7d00 ((work_completion)(&queue->release_work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x79e/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2285

which lock already depends on the new lock.


the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #2 ((work_completion)(&queue->release_work)){+.+.}-{0:0}:
       process_one_work+0x7ba/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2286
       worker_thread+0xad7/0x12a0 kernel/workqueue.c:2457
       kthread+0x42e/0x520 kernel/kthread.c:334
       ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:287

-> #1 ((wq_completion)nvmet-wq){+.+.}-{0:0}:
       flush_workqueue+0x16a/0x1390 kernel/workqueue.c:2830
       nvmet_tcp_install_queue+0x7e/0x380 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1891
       nvmet_install_queue+0x335/0x760 drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd.c:154
       nvmet_execute_admin_connect+0x332/0x750 drivers/nvme/target/fabrics-cmd.c:217
       nvmet_tcp_execute_request drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:603 [inline]
       nvmet_tcp_try_recv_data drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1235 [inline]
       nvmet_tcp_try_recv_one drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1299 [inline]
       nvmet_tcp_try_recv drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1325 [inline]
       nvmet_tcp_io_work+0x1923/0x8510 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1375
       process_one_work+0x867/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2310
       worker_thread+0xad7/0x12a0 kernel/workqueue.c:2457
       kthread+0x42e/0x520 kernel/kthread.c:334
       ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:287

-> #0 ((work_completion)(&queue->io_work)){+.+.}-{0:0}:
       check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3053 [inline]
       check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3172 [inline]
       validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3788 [inline]
       __lock_acquire+0x2c66/0x7b50 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5012
       lock_acquire+0x19e/0x400 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5625
       __flush_work+0x116/0x210 kernel/workqueue.c:3090
       nvmet_tcp_release_queue_work+0x32f/0xdb0 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1537
       process_one_work+0x867/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2310
       worker_thread+0xad7/0x12a0 kernel/workqueue.c:2457
       kthread+0x42e/0x520 kernel/kthread.c:334
       ret_from_fork+0x1f/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:287

other info that might help us debug this:

Chain exists of:
  (work_completion)(&queue->io_work) --> (wq_completion)nvmet-wq --> (work_completion)(&queue->release_work)

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock((work_completion)(&queue->release_work));
                               lock((wq_completion)nvmet-wq);
                               lock((work_completion)(&queue->release_work));
  lock((work_completion)(&queue->io_work));

 *** DEADLOCK ***

2 locks held by kworker/0:0/7:
 #0: ffff888021e46938 ((wq_completion)nvmet-wq){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x75c/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:-1
 #1: ffffc90000cc7d00 ((work_completion)(&queue->release_work)){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: process_one_work+0x79e/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2285

stack backtrace:
CPU: 0 PID: 7 Comm: kworker/0:0 Not tainted syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Workqueue: nvmet-wq nvmet_tcp_release_queue_work
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x188/0x250 lib/dump_stack.c:106
 check_noncircular+0x296/0x330 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2133
 check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3053 [inline]
 check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3172 [inline]
 validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3788 [inline]
 __lock_acquire+0x2c66/0x7b50 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5012
 lock_acquire+0x19e/0x400 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5625
 __flush_work+0x116/0x210 kernel/workqueue.c:3090
 nvmet_tcp_release_queue_work+0x32f/0xdb0 drivers/nvme/target/tcp.c:1537
 process_one_work+0x867/0xff0 kernel/workqueue.c:2310

Crashes (9):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/09/15 04:26 linux-5.15.y 0248c33e835e 81a27d1a .config console log report syz / log C [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/18 06:47 linux-5.15.y 0248c33e835e 8d7d05f1 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/15 00:56 linux-5.15.y 0248c33e835e 81a27d1a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/14 23:38 linux-5.15.y 0248c33e835e 81a27d1a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/14 23:37 linux-5.15.y 0248c33e835e 81a27d1a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/10 19:14 linux-5.15.y 0996e0926f6b 1fe56c0a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/09/10 18:33 linux-5.15.y 0996e0926f6b 1fe56c0a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/08/14 06:37 linux-5.15.y aabd761612db b13552fe .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
2026/08/06 23:31 linux-5.15.y 9c7634c60784 c38879ea .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-5-15-kasan possible deadlock in worker_thread
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.