From: Lucas De Marchi <demarchi@kernel.org>
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:13:51 +0000 (-0500)
Subject: module: Override -EEXIST module return
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=743f8cae549affe8eafb021b8c0e78a9f3bc23fa;p=thirdparty%2Fkernel%2Fstable.git

module: Override -EEXIST module return

The -EEXIST errno is reserved by the module loading functionality. When
userspace calls [f]init_module(), it expects a -EEXIST to mean that the
module is already loaded in the kernel. If module_init() returns it,
that is not true anymore.

Override the error when returning to userspace: it doesn't make sense to
change potentially long error propagation call chains just because it's
will end up as the return of module_init().

Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aKLzsAX14ybEjHfJ@orbyte.nwl.cc/
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
Cc: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
Cc: Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@samsung.com>
Cc: Phil Sutter <phil@nwl.cc>
Cc: Christophe Leroy <christophe.leroy@csgroup.eu>
Signed-off-by: Lucas De Marchi <demarchi@kernel.org>
[Sami: Fixed a typo.]
Signed-off-by: Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>
---

diff --git a/kernel/module/main.c b/kernel/module/main.c
index c4f768953516..ef6742536700 100644
--- a/kernel/module/main.c
+++ b/kernel/module/main.c
@@ -3105,6 +3105,14 @@ static noinline int do_init_module(struct module *mod)
 	if (mod->init != NULL)
 		ret = do_one_initcall(mod->init);
 	if (ret < 0) {
+		/*
+		 * -EEXIST is reserved by [f]init_module() to signal to userspace that
+		 * a module with this name is already loaded. Use something else if the
+		 * module itself is returning that.
+		 */
+		if (ret == -EEXIST)
+			ret = -EBUSY;
+
 		goto fail_free_freeinit;
 	}
 	if (ret > 0) {