Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)]

Hi, Thorsten here, the Linux kernel's regression tracker.

On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:
> 
> I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
> properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
> This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
> When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
> the card just doesn't work.
> 
> Reverting this helps:
> commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f
> Author: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>
> Date:   Thu Nov 17 04:59:22 2022 +0000
> 
>     media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend
> 
> 
> I have:
> 03:00.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Conexant Systems, Inc.
> CX23887/8
> PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb [14f1:8880] (rev 04)
>         Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device [0070:c138]
>         Kernel driver in use: cx23885

Hmmm, that was posted last Tuesday and received not a single reply. :-/

Hyunwoo Kim: could you please look at it, as it's a regression caused by
a commit of yours (one that would be good to solve before 6.4 is
finalized!)? And in case you are unable to do so let us know?

But FWIW:

Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
months now. :-/

Ciao, Thorsten (wearing his 'the Linux kernel's regression tracker' hat)
--
Everything you wanna know about Linux kernel regression tracking:
https://linux-regtracking.leemhuis.info/about/#tldr
If I did something stupid, please tell me, as explained on that page.

#regzbot poke

> zcat /proc/config.gz | grep ^CONFIG_DVB
> CONFIG_DVB_CORE=y
> CONFIG_DVB_MMAP=y
> CONFIG_DVB_NET=y
> CONFIG_DVB_MAX_ADAPTERS=8
> CONFIG_DVB_DYNAMIC_MINORS=y
> CONFIG_DVB_USB=y
> CONFIG_DVB_USB_TTUSB2=y
> CONFIG_DVB_M88DS3103=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STB0899=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STB6100=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STV090x=y
> CONFIG_DVB_DRXK=y
> CONFIG_DVB_SI2165=y
> CONFIG_DVB_CX24116=y
> CONFIG_DVB_CX24117=y
> CONFIG_DVB_DS3000=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STV0299=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STV0900=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STV6110=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA10071=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA10086=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA8261=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA826X=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TS2020=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TUA6100=y
> CONFIG_DVB_DIB7000P=y
> CONFIG_DVB_SI2168=y
> CONFIG_DVB_STV0367=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA10048=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA1004X=y
> CONFIG_DVB_ZL10353=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA10021=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TDA10023=y
> CONFIG_DVB_LGDT330X=y
> CONFIG_DVB_S5H1409=y
> CONFIG_DVB_S5H1411=y
> CONFIG_DVB_MB86A20S=y
> CONFIG_DVB_PLL=y
> CONFIG_DVB_TUNER_DIB0070=y
> CONFIG_DVB_A8293=y
> CONFIG_DVB_LNBP21=y
> 
> 

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 11:38:49 +0200
"Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:

> Hi, Thorsten here, the Linux kernel's regression tracker.
> 
> On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:
> > 
> > I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
> > properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
> > This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
> > When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
> > the card just doesn't work.
> > 
> > Reverting this helps:
> > commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f
> > Author: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>
> > Date:   Thu Nov 17 04:59:22 2022 +0000
> > 
> >     media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend
> > 
> > 
> > I have:
> > 03:00.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Conexant Systems, Inc.
> > CX23887/8
> > PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb [14f1:8880] (rev 04)
> >         Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device [0070:c138]
> >         Kernel driver in use: cx23885  
> 
> Hmmm, that was posted last Tuesday and received not a single reply. :-/
> 
> Hyunwoo Kim: could you please look at it, as it's a regression caused by
> a commit of yours (one that would be good to solve before 6.4 is
> finalized!)? And in case you are unable to do so let us know?
> 
> But FWIW:
> 
> Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
> into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
> according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
> months now. :-/

Yeah, I was slow applying this one, as I was afraid of it to cause
troubles. The DVB frontend state machine is complex, and uses a
semaphore to update its state. There was some past attempts of
addressing some lifetime issues there that we ended needing to revert
or not being applied, as the fix caused more harm than good.

The way DVB tuning works is that it uses a zigzag mechanism to
tune to a frequency. It actually tries to tune at several different
frequencies, like:

	f
	f + delta
	f - delta
	f + 2 * delta
	f - 2 * delta
	...

the DVB core supports 3 different types of zigzag approaches:
	- hardware-based - no need to do any special implementation;
	- software-based - Kernel will try the above tunes in in a
	  zig-zag way;
	- custom-based - the hardware has some helpers to speedup
	  and improve the tuning logic.

If a signal is lost, the device will re-run the zigzag logic.

It is not trivial to test all possible conditions there, and some
boards may have multiple frontend devices for different types of
TV transmission (cable, satellite, air).

As I don't have a DVB signal generator anymore, my tests were limited to 
devices I have it handy that are compatible with DVB/T. 

In any case, we need more details about the problem, as CX23887 is just
the media streaming PCIe bridge device. It tells nothing about what
frontend is attached to the bridge.

Regards,
Mauro

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Thorsten Leemhuis]

On 05.06.23 12:37, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 11:38:49 +0200
> "Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:
> 
>> Hi, Thorsten here, the Linux kernel's regression tracker.
>>
>> On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:
>>>
>>> I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
>>> properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
>>> This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
>>> When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
>>> the card just doesn't work.
>>>
>>> Reverting this helps:
>>> commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f
>>> Author: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>
>>> Date:   Thu Nov 17 04:59:22 2022 +0000
>>>
>>>     media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend
>>>
>>>
>>> I have:
>>> 03:00.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Conexant Systems, Inc.
>>> CX23887/8
>>> PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb [14f1:8880] (rev 04)
>>>         Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device [0070:c138]
>>>         Kernel driver in use: cx23885  
>>
>> Hmmm, that was posted last Tuesday and received not a single reply. :-/
>>
>> Hyunwoo Kim: could you please look at it, as it's a regression caused by
>> a commit of yours (one that would be good to solve before 6.4 is
>> finalized!)? And in case you are unable to do so let us know?
>>
>> But FWIW:
>>
>> Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
>> into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
>> according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
>> months now. :-/
> 
> Yeah, I was slow applying this one, as I was afraid of it to cause
> troubles. The DVB frontend state machine is complex, and uses a
> semaphore to update its state. There was some past attempts of
> addressing some lifetime issues there that we ended needing to revert
> or not being applied, as the fix caused more harm than good.
> [...]

Thx for the update. That's unfortunate, but how it is sometimes. Which
leads to a follow-up question: is reverting the culprit temporarily an
option? Or did those old use-after-free problems became known to be a
problem we can't live with anymore for another few months?

Ciao, Thorsten (wearing his 'the Linux kernel's regression tracker' hat)
--
Everything you wanna know about Linux kernel regression tracking:
https://linux-regtracking.leemhuis.info/about/#tldr
If I did something stupid, please tell me, as explained on that page.

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 12:44:43 +0200
Thorsten Leemhuis <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:

> On 05.06.23 12:37, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> > Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 11:38:49 +0200
> > "Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:
> >   
> >> Hi, Thorsten here, the Linux kernel's regression tracker.
> >>
> >> On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:  
> >>>
> >>> I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
> >>> properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
> >>> This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
> >>> When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
> >>> the card just doesn't work.
> >>>
> >>> Reverting this helps:
> >>> commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f
> >>> Author: Hyunwoo Kim <imv4bel@gmail.com>
> >>> Date:   Thu Nov 17 04:59:22 2022 +0000
> >>>
> >>>     media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I have:
> >>> 03:00.0 Multimedia video controller [0400]: Conexant Systems, Inc.
> >>> CX23887/8
> >>> PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb [14f1:8880] (rev 04)
> >>>         Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. Device [0070:c138]
> >>>         Kernel driver in use: cx23885    
> >>
> >> Hmmm, that was posted last Tuesday and received not a single reply. :-/
> >>
> >> Hyunwoo Kim: could you please look at it, as it's a regression caused by
> >> a commit of yours (one that would be good to solve before 6.4 is
> >> finalized!)? And in case you are unable to do so let us know?
> >>
> >> But FWIW:
> >>
> >> Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
> >> into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
> >> according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
> >> months now. :-/  
> > 
> > Yeah, I was slow applying this one, as I was afraid of it to cause
> > troubles. The DVB frontend state machine is complex, and uses a
> > semaphore to update its state. There was some past attempts of
> > addressing some lifetime issues there that we ended needing to revert
> > or not being applied, as the fix caused more harm than good.
> > [...]  
> 
> Thx for the update. That's unfortunate, but how it is sometimes. Which
> leads to a follow-up question: is reverting the culprit temporarily an
> option? Or did those old use-after-free problems became known to be a
> problem we can't live with anymore for another few months?

Reverting the patch seems to be the way to proceed. Then, work on another
way to address UAF. 

I'm not aware of dvb users complaining about troubles due to UAF, although 
it seems that there's now a CVE for it. So, maybe someone complained against
a distro Kernel, which caused the CVE to be opened.

So, while it is nice to have the lifetime issues fixed, last time I checked,
the USB dvb-usb/dvb-usb-v2 have some logic that usually prevents it to cause 
real issues during device removal, and unbinding DVB PCIe devices is 
something that users don't do in practice.

Regards,
Mauro

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)]

On 05.06.23 20:00, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 12:44:43 +0200
> Thorsten Leemhuis <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:
>> On 05.06.23 12:37, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
>>> Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 11:38:49 +0200
>>> "Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:
>>>>
>>>> On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:  
>>>>>
>>>>> I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
>>>>> properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
>>>>> This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
>>>>> When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
>>>>> the card just doesn't work.
>>>>>
>>>>> Reverting this helps:
>>>>> commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f
>>>>[...]
>>>> Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
>>>> into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
>>>> according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
>>>> months now. :-/  
>>>
>>> Yeah, I was slow applying this one, as I was afraid of it to cause
>>> troubles. The DVB frontend state machine is complex, and uses a
>>> semaphore to update its state. There was some past attempts of
>>> addressing some lifetime issues there that we ended needing to revert
>>> or not being applied, as the fix caused more harm than good.
>>> [...]  
>>
>> Thx for the update. That's unfortunate, but how it is sometimes. Which
>> leads to a follow-up question: is reverting the culprit temporarily an
>> option? Or did those old use-after-free problems became known to be a
>> problem we can't live with anymore for another few months?
> 
> Reverting the patch seems to be the way to proceed. Then, work on another
> way to address UAF. 
> 
> I'm not aware of dvb users complaining about troubles due to UAF, although 
> it seems that there's now a CVE for it. So, maybe someone complained against
> a distro Kernel, which caused the CVE to be opened.
> 
> So, while it is nice to have the lifetime issues fixed, last time I checked,
> the USB dvb-usb/dvb-usb-v2 have some logic that usually prevents it to cause 
> real issues during device removal, and unbinding DVB PCIe devices is 
> something that users don't do in practice.

Thx for the explanation and handling this. I noticed you posted a
revert, but it misses a fixes tag for the reverted commit and a Link: or
Closes: tag to the report. I think Linus would very much welcome at
least one of the latter in a situation like this (see [1] and [2]). I
would, too, as then regzbot would have noticed the patch posting. But
whatever, no big deal, let me tell regzbot about the latest progress
manually:

#regzbot monitor:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20230609082238.3671398-1-mchehab@kernel.org/
#regzbot fix: Revert "media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race
condition at dvb_frontend"

Ciao, Thorsten (wearing his 'the Linux kernel's regression tracker' hat)

[1] for details, see:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wjMmSZzMJ3Xnskdg4+GGz=5p5p+GSYyFBTh0f-DgvdBWg@mail.gmail.com/
https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wgs38ZrfPvy=nOwVkVzjpM3VFU1zobP37Fwd_h9iAD5JQ@mail.gmail.com/
https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wjxzafG-=J8oT30s7upn4RhBs6TX-uVFZ5rME+L5_DoJA@mail.gmail.com/

[2] see Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
(http://docs.kernel.org/process/submitting-patches.html) and
Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst
(https://docs.kernel.org/process/5.Posting.html)

--
Everything you wanna know about Linux kernel regression tracking:
https://linux-regtracking.leemhuis.info/about/#tldr
If I did something stupid, please tell me, as explained on that page.

Re: Sometimes DVB broken with commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

Em Mon, 12 Jun 2023 17:10:06 +0200
"Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:

> On 05.06.23 20:00, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> > Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 12:44:43 +0200
> > Thorsten Leemhuis <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:  
> >> On 05.06.23 12:37, Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:  
> >>> Em Mon, 5 Jun 2023 11:38:49 +0200
> >>> "Linux regression tracking (Thorsten Leemhuis)" <regressions@leemhuis.info> escreveu:  
> >>>>
> >>>> On 30.05.23 13:12, Thomas Voegtle wrote:    
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I have the problem that sometimes my DVB card does not initialize
> >>>>> properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4.
> >>>>> This is not always, maybe in 3 out of 4 attempts.
> >>>>> When this happens somehow you don't see anything special in dmesg, but
> >>>>> the card just doesn't work.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Reverting this helps:
> >>>>> commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f  
> >>>>[...]
> >>>> Mauro: I wonder if this is something you or someone else has to look
> >>>> into, as Hyunwoo Kim posted a few times per months to Linux lists, but
> >>>> according  to a quick search on lore hasn't posted anything since ~two
> >>>> months now. :-/    
> >>>
> >>> Yeah, I was slow applying this one, as I was afraid of it to cause
> >>> troubles. The DVB frontend state machine is complex, and uses a
> >>> semaphore to update its state. There was some past attempts of
> >>> addressing some lifetime issues there that we ended needing to revert
> >>> or not being applied, as the fix caused more harm than good.
> >>> [...]    
> >>
> >> Thx for the update. That's unfortunate, but how it is sometimes. Which
> >> leads to a follow-up question: is reverting the culprit temporarily an
> >> option? Or did those old use-after-free problems became known to be a
> >> problem we can't live with anymore for another few months?  
> > 
> > Reverting the patch seems to be the way to proceed. Then, work on another
> > way to address UAF. 
> > 
> > I'm not aware of dvb users complaining about troubles due to UAF, although 
> > it seems that there's now a CVE for it. So, maybe someone complained against
> > a distro Kernel, which caused the CVE to be opened.
> > 
> > So, while it is nice to have the lifetime issues fixed, last time I checked,
> > the USB dvb-usb/dvb-usb-v2 have some logic that usually prevents it to cause 
> > real issues during device removal, and unbinding DVB PCIe devices is 
> > something that users don't do in practice.  
> 
> Thx for the explanation and handling this. I noticed you posted a
> revert, but it misses a fixes tag for the reverted commit and a Link: or
> Closes: tag to the report. 

I added a Fixed and a link (see patch enclosed).

If everything merges fine on linux-next, I should be sending a PR
upstream likely tomorrow.

Regards,
Mauro

[PATCH] Revert "media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend"

As reported by Thomas Voegtle <tv@lio96.de>, sometimes a DVB card does
not initialize properly booting Linux 6.4-rc4. This is not always, maybe
in 3 out of 4 attempts.

After double-checking, the root cause seems to be related to the
UAF fix, which is causing a race issue:

[   26.332149] tda10071 7-0005: found a 'NXP TDA10071' in cold state, will try to load a firmware
[   26.340779] tda10071 7-0005: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-fe-tda10071.fw'
[  989.277402] INFO: task vdr:743 blocked for more than 491 seconds.
[  989.283504]       Not tainted 6.4.0-rc5-i5 #249
[  989.288036] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
[  989.295860] task:vdr             state:D stack:0     pid:743   ppid:711    flags:0x00004002
[  989.295865] Call Trace:
[  989.295867]  <TASK>
[  989.295869]  __schedule+0x2ea/0x12d0
[  989.295877]  ? asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x16/0x20
[  989.295881]  schedule+0x57/0xc0
[  989.295884]  schedule_preempt_disabled+0xc/0x20
[  989.295887]  __mutex_lock.isra.16+0x237/0x480
[  989.295891]  ? dvb_get_property.isra.10+0x1bc/0xa50
[  989.295898]  ? dvb_frontend_stop+0x36/0x180
[  989.338777]  dvb_frontend_stop+0x36/0x180
[  989.338781]  dvb_frontend_open+0x2f1/0x470
[  989.338784]  dvb_device_open+0x81/0xf0
[  989.338804]  ? exact_lock+0x20/0x20
[  989.338808]  chrdev_open+0x7f/0x1c0
[  989.338811]  ? generic_permission+0x1a2/0x230
[  989.338813]  ? link_path_walk.part.63+0x340/0x380
[  989.338815]  ? exact_lock+0x20/0x20
[  989.338817]  do_dentry_open+0x18e/0x450
[  989.374030]  path_openat+0xca5/0xe00
[  989.374031]  ? terminate_walk+0xec/0x100
[  989.374034]  ? path_lookupat+0x93/0x140
[  989.374036]  do_filp_open+0xc0/0x140
[  989.374038]  ? __call_rcu_common.constprop.91+0x92/0x240
[  989.374041]  ? __check_object_size+0x147/0x260
[  989.374043]  ? __check_object_size+0x147/0x260
[  989.374045]  ? alloc_fd+0xbb/0x180
[  989.374048]  ? do_sys_openat2+0x243/0x310
[  989.374050]  do_sys_openat2+0x243/0x310
[  989.374052]  do_sys_open+0x52/0x80
[  989.374055]  do_syscall_64+0x5b/0x80
[  989.421335]  ? __task_pid_nr_ns+0x92/0xa0
[  989.421337]  ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x20/0x40
[  989.421339]  ? do_syscall_64+0x67/0x80
[  989.421341]  ? syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x20/0x40
[  989.421343]  ? do_syscall_64+0x67/0x80
[  989.421345]  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd
[  989.421348] RIP: 0033:0x7fe895d067e3
[  989.421349] RSP: 002b:00007fff933c2ba0 EFLAGS: 00000293 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000101
[  989.421351] RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fff933c2c10 RCX: 00007fe895d067e3
[  989.421352] RDX: 0000000000000802 RSI: 00005594acdce160 RDI: 00000000ffffff9c
[  989.421353] RBP: 0000000000000802 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
[  989.421353] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000293 R12: 0000000000000001
[  989.421354] R13: 00007fff933c2ca0 R14: 00000000ffffffff R15: 00007fff933c2c90
[  989.421355]  </TASK>

This reverts commit 6769a0b7ee0c3b31e1b22c3fadff2bfb642de23f.

Fixes: 6769a0b7ee0c ("media: dvb-core: Fix use-after-free on race condition at dvb_frontend")
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/da5382ad-09d6-20ac-0d53-611594b30861@lio96.de/
Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@kernel.org>

diff --git a/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c b/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
index bc6950a5740f..9293b058ab99 100644
--- a/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
+++ b/drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.c
@@ -817,26 +817,15 @@ static void dvb_frontend_stop(struct dvb_frontend *fe)
 
 	dev_dbg(fe->dvb->device, "%s:\n", __func__);
 
-	mutex_lock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-
 	if (fe->exit != DVB_FE_DEVICE_REMOVED)
 		fe->exit = DVB_FE_NORMAL_EXIT;
 	mb();
 
-	if (!fepriv->thread) {
-		mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
+	if (!fepriv->thread)
 		return;
-	}
 
 	kthread_stop(fepriv->thread);
 
-	mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-
-	if (fepriv->dvbdev->users < -1) {
-		wait_event(fepriv->dvbdev->wait_queue,
-			   fepriv->dvbdev->users == -1);
-	}
-
 	sema_init(&fepriv->sem, 1);
 	fepriv->state = FESTATE_IDLE;
 
@@ -2780,13 +2769,9 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 	struct dvb_adapter *adapter = fe->dvb;
 	int ret;
 
-	mutex_lock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-
 	dev_dbg(fe->dvb->device, "%s:\n", __func__);
-	if (fe->exit == DVB_FE_DEVICE_REMOVED) {
-		ret = -ENODEV;
-		goto err_remove_mutex;
-	}
+	if (fe->exit == DVB_FE_DEVICE_REMOVED)
+		return -ENODEV;
 
 	if (adapter->mfe_shared == 2) {
 		mutex_lock(&adapter->mfe_lock);
@@ -2794,8 +2779,7 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 			if (adapter->mfe_dvbdev &&
 			    !adapter->mfe_dvbdev->writers) {
 				mutex_unlock(&adapter->mfe_lock);
-				ret = -EBUSY;
-				goto err_remove_mutex;
+				return -EBUSY;
 			}
 			adapter->mfe_dvbdev = dvbdev;
 		}
@@ -2818,10 +2802,8 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 			while (mferetry-- && (mfedev->users != -1 ||
 					      mfepriv->thread)) {
 				if (msleep_interruptible(500)) {
-					if (signal_pending(current)) {
-						ret = -EINTR;
-						goto err_remove_mutex;
-					}
+					if (signal_pending(current))
+						return -EINTR;
 				}
 			}
 
@@ -2833,8 +2815,7 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 				if (mfedev->users != -1 ||
 				    mfepriv->thread) {
 					mutex_unlock(&adapter->mfe_lock);
-					ret = -EBUSY;
-					goto err_remove_mutex;
+					return -EBUSY;
 				}
 				adapter->mfe_dvbdev = dvbdev;
 			}
@@ -2893,8 +2874,6 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 
 	if (adapter->mfe_shared)
 		mutex_unlock(&adapter->mfe_lock);
-
-	mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
 	return ret;
 
 err3:
@@ -2916,9 +2895,6 @@ static int dvb_frontend_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 err0:
 	if (adapter->mfe_shared)
 		mutex_unlock(&adapter->mfe_lock);
-
-err_remove_mutex:
-	mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -2929,8 +2905,6 @@ static int dvb_frontend_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 	struct dvb_frontend_private *fepriv = fe->frontend_priv;
 	int ret;
 
-	mutex_lock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-
 	dev_dbg(fe->dvb->device, "%s:\n", __func__);
 
 	if ((file->f_flags & O_ACCMODE) != O_RDONLY) {
@@ -2952,18 +2926,10 @@ static int dvb_frontend_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 		}
 		mutex_unlock(&fe->dvb->mdev_lock);
 #endif
+		if (fe->exit != DVB_FE_NO_EXIT)
+			wake_up(&dvbdev->wait_queue);
 		if (fe->ops.ts_bus_ctrl)
 			fe->ops.ts_bus_ctrl(fe, 0);
-
-		if (fe->exit != DVB_FE_NO_EXIT) {
-			mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-			wake_up(&dvbdev->wait_queue);
-		} else {
-			mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
-		}
-
-	} else {
-		mutex_unlock(&fe->remove_mutex);
 	}
 
 	dvb_frontend_put(fe);
@@ -3064,7 +3030,6 @@ int dvb_register_frontend(struct dvb_adapter *dvb,
 	fepriv = fe->frontend_priv;
 
 	kref_init(&fe->refcount);
-	mutex_init(&fe->remove_mutex);
 
 	/*
 	 * After initialization, there need to be two references: one
diff --git a/include/media/dvb_frontend.h b/include/media/dvb_frontend.h
index 367d5381217b..e7c44870f20d 100644
--- a/include/media/dvb_frontend.h
+++ b/include/media/dvb_frontend.h
@@ -686,10 +686,7 @@ struct dtv_frontend_properties {
  * @id:			Frontend ID
  * @exit:		Used to inform the DVB core that the frontend
  *			thread should exit (usually, means that the hardware
- *			got disconnected).
- * @remove_mutex:	mutex that avoids a race condition between a callback
- *			called when the hardware is disconnected and the
- *			file_operations of dvb_frontend.
+ *			got disconnected.
  */
 
 struct dvb_frontend {
@@ -707,7 +704,6 @@ struct dvb_frontend {
 	int (*callback)(void *adapter_priv, int component, int cmd, int arg);
 	int id;
 	unsigned int exit;
-	struct mutex remove_mutex;
 };
 
 /**