Re: [PATCH v3 4/4] drm/panel: find_panel_by_fwnode() return a counted reference

Hello Albert,

On Fri Jul 17, 2026 at 4:02 PM CEST, Albert Esteve wrote:
> find_panel_by_fwnode() is the fwnode-based counterpart to
> of_drm_find_panel(), used internally by drm_panel_add_follower().
> Like of_drm_find_panel(), it returned an unrefcounted pointer,
> leaving a window where the panel could be freed between the lookup
> and first use.
>
> drm_panel_add_follower() worked around the missing panel kref by
> calling get_device() on the panel's underlying struct device.
> However, get_device() only prevents the device kobject from being freed.
> It does not prevent the panel's kzalloc()'d container memory from being
> released when the kref reaches zero.
>
> Apply the same fix: call drm_panel_get() under panel_lock before
> returning. Since find_panel_by_fwnode() now transfers a counted
> reference to drm_panel_add_follower(), drm_panel_remove_follower()
> must balance it with a matching drm_panel_put().
>
> Acked-by: Maxime Ripard <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: Albert Esteve <[email protected]>
> ---
>  drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c | 10 +++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
> index 72cf86253c0cd..a00ae98ed0956 100644
> --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
> +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_panel.c
> @@ -542,7 +542,13 @@ int of_drm_get_panel_orientation(const struct device_node *np,
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(of_drm_get_panel_orientation);
>  #endif
>
> -/* Find panel by fwnode. This should be identical to of_drm_find_panel(). */
> +/*
> + * Find panel by fwnode, returning a counted reference.
> + *
> + * Behaves identically to of_drm_find_panel(). On success the returned
> + * pointer has been passed through drm_panel_get(); the caller must call
> + * drm_panel_put() when done with it.
> + */
>  static struct drm_panel *find_panel_by_fwnode(const struct fwnode_handle *fwnode)
>  {
>  	struct drm_panel *panel;
> @@ -554,6 +560,7 @@ static struct drm_panel *find_panel_by_fwnode(const struct fwnode_handle *fwnode
>
>  	list_for_each_entry(panel, &panel_list, list) {
>  		if (dev_fwnode(panel->dev) == fwnode) {
> +			drm_panel_get(panel);
>  			mutex_unlock(&panel_lock);
>  			return panel;
>  		}
> @@ -690,6 +697,7 @@ void drm_panel_remove_follower(struct drm_panel_follower *follower)
>  	mutex_unlock(&panel->follower_lock);
>
>  	put_device(panel->dev);
> +	drm_panel_put(panel);

Based on your description, can we drop the get_device/put_device() now?

That can be done as a future cleanup, so:
Reviewed-by: Luca Ceresoli <[email protected]>

Luca

--
Luca Ceresoli, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com