possible deadlock in ptp_clock_adjtime

Status: upstream: reported on 2026/09/22 22:43
Reported-by: syzbot+d540661e5e8e04112fab@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 6d15h, last: 14h23m
▶ ▼ Similar bugs (1)
Kernel Title Rank 🛈 Repro Cause bisect Fix bisect Count Last Reported Patched Status
upstream possible deadlock in ptp_clock_adjtime net 4 12 410d 448d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2025/10/23 19:41

Sample crash report:
======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
syzkaller #0 Not tainted
------------------------------------------------------
syz.0.1189/9048 is trying to acquire lock:
ffff88814c9498f0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: ptp_vclock_in_use drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:104 [inline]
ffff88814c9498f0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: ptp_clock_freerun drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:121 [inline]
ffff88814c9498f0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: ptp_clock_adjtime+0x12f/0x870 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:111

but task is already holding lock:
ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: get_posix_clock kernel/time/posix-clock.c:25 [inline]
ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: get_clock_desc kernel/time/posix-clock.c:232 [inline]
ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: pc_clock_adjtime+0xde/0x260 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:252

which lock already depends on the new lock.


the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #1 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}:
       down_write+0x36/0x60 kernel/locking/rwsem.c:1573
       posix_clock_unregister+0x5b/0xc0 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:207
       ptp_clock_unregister+0x18a/0x200 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:391
       ptp_vclock_unregister+0x110/0x140 drivers/ptp/ptp_vclock.c:230
       unregister_vclock+0xca/0x130 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:164
       device_for_each_child_reverse+0x112/0x1b0 drivers/base/core.c:4073
       n_vclocks_store+0x226/0x750 drivers/ptp/ptp_sysfs.c:228
       kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x3a0/0x520 fs/kernfs/file.c:352
       call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:2271 [inline]
       new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:491 [inline]
       vfs_write+0x482/0x9a0 fs/read_write.c:584
       ksys_write+0x14d/0x260 fs/read_write.c:637
       do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
       do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2

-> #0 (&ptp->n_vclocks_mux){+.+.}-{3:3}:
       check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3095 [inline]
       check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3214 [inline]
       validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3830 [inline]
       __lock_acquire+0x2d18/0x7c40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5063
       lock_acquire+0x1bb/0x4a0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5678
       __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:603 [inline]
       __mutex_lock+0x12d/0xae0 kernel/locking/mutex.c:747
       ptp_vclock_in_use drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:104 [inline]
       ptp_clock_freerun drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:121 [inline]
       ptp_clock_adjtime+0x12f/0x870 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:111
       pc_clock_adjtime+0x1d4/0x260 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:262
       do_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1155 [inline]
       __do_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1167 [inline]
       __se_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158 [inline]
       __x64_sys_clock_adjtime+0x240/0x320 kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158
       do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
       do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
       entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2

other info that might help us debug this:

 Possible unsafe locking scenario:

       CPU0                    CPU1
       ----                    ----
  lock(&clk->rwsem);
                               lock(&ptp->n_vclocks_mux);
                               lock(&clk->rwsem);
  lock(&ptp->n_vclocks_mux);

 *** DEADLOCK ***

1 lock held by syz.0.1189/9048:
 #0: ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: get_posix_clock kernel/time/posix-clock.c:25 [inline]
 #0: ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: get_clock_desc kernel/time/posix-clock.c:232 [inline]
 #0: ffff88814c948130 (&clk->rwsem){++++}-{3:3}, at: pc_clock_adjtime+0xde/0x260 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:252

stack backtrace:
CPU: 1 PID: 9048 Comm: syz.0.1189 Not tainted syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0x188/0x24e lib/dump_stack.c:106
 check_noncircular+0x296/0x330 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:2170
 check_prev_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3095 [inline]
 check_prevs_add kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3214 [inline]
 validate_chain kernel/locking/lockdep.c:3830 [inline]
 __lock_acquire+0x2d18/0x7c40 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5063
 lock_acquire+0x1bb/0x4a0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5678
 __mutex_lock_common kernel/locking/mutex.c:603 [inline]
 __mutex_lock+0x12d/0xae0 kernel/locking/mutex.c:747
 ptp_vclock_in_use drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:104 [inline]
 ptp_clock_freerun drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h:121 [inline]
 ptp_clock_adjtime+0x12f/0x870 drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c:111
 pc_clock_adjtime+0x1d4/0x260 kernel/time/posix-clock.c:262
 do_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1155 [inline]
 __do_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1167 [inline]
 __se_sys_clock_adjtime kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158 [inline]
 __x64_sys_clock_adjtime+0x240/0x320 kernel/time/posix-timers.c:1158
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:46 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x4c/0xa0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:76
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x68/0xd2
RIP: 0033:0x7f8206d9e159
Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007f8207ce9028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000131
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f8207025fa0 RCX: 00007f8206d9e159
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000200000000000 RDI: 00000000ffffffd3
RBP: 00007f8206e3506b R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007f8207026038 R14: 00007f8207025fa0 R15: 00007fff774520b8
 </TASK>
ptp: physical clock is free running

Crashes (3):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/09/22 22:42 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 5207b90e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan possible deadlock in ptp_clock_adjtime
2026/09/22 22:42 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 5207b90e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan possible deadlock in ptp_clock_adjtime
2026/09/29 00:15 linux-6.1.y 1a8763b93150 a3c7249d .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci2-linux-6-1-kasan-arm64 possible deadlock in ptp_clock_adjtime
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.