linux-kernel - [PATCH] nfs: fix memory leak in nfs_sysfs_init if kset

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Message-ID: <20260131000937.229276-1-salah.triki@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2026 01:09:37 +0100
From: Salah Triki <salah.triki@...il.com>
To: Trond Myklebust <trondmy@...nel.org>,
	Anna Schumaker <anna@...nel.org>
Cc: linux-nfs@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Salah Triki <salah.triki@...il.com>
Subject: [PATCH] nfs: fix memory leak in nfs_sysfs_init if kset_register fails

When `kset_register()` fails, it does not clean up the underlying
kobject. Calling `kfree()` directly is incorrect because the kobject
within the kset has already been initialized, and its internal
resources or reference counting must be handled properly.

As stated in the kobject documentation, once a kobject is registered
(or even just initialized), you must use `kobject_put()` instead of
`kfree()` to let the reference counting mechanism perform the cleanup
via the ktype's release callback.

This patch replaces the incorrect `kfree()` with `kobject_put()` in the
error path of `nfs_sysfs_init()`.

Fixes: 943aef2dbcf75 ("NFS: Open-code the nfs_kset
kset_create_and_add()")

Signed-off-by: Salah Triki <salah.triki@...il.com>
---
 fs/nfs/sysfs.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/nfs/sysfs.c b/fs/nfs/sysfs.c
index ea6e6168092b..6e39cd69ed44 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/sysfs.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/sysfs.c
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ int nfs_sysfs_init(void)

 	ret = kset_register(nfs_kset);
 	if (ret) {
-		kfree(nfs_kset);
+		kset_put(nfs_kset);
 		return ret;
 	}

-- 
2.43.0