In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: block: Fix potential deadlock in blk_ia_range_sysfs_show() When being read, a sysfs attribute is already protected against removal with the kobject node active reference counter. As a result, in blk_ia_range_sysfs_show(), there is no need to take the queue sysfs lock when reading the value of a range attribute. Using the queue sysfs lock in this function creates a potential deadlock situation with the disk removal, something that a lockdep signals with a splat when the device is removed: [ 760.703551] Possible unsafe locking scenario: [ 760.703551] [ 760.703554] CPU0 CPU1 [ 760.703556] ---- ---- [ 760.703558] lock(&q->sysfs_lock); [ 760.703565] lock(kn->active#385); [ 760.703573] lock(&q->sysfs_lock); [ 760.703579] lock(kn->active#385); [ 760.703587] [ 760.703587] *** DEADLOCK *** Solve this by removing the mutex_lock()/mutex_unlock() calls from blk_ia_range_sysfs_show().