Re: [PATCH] HID: appletb-kbd: fix "appletb_backlight" backlight device reference counting

From: Aditya Garg
Date: Wed Jun 18 2025 - 09:00:55 EST


Hi Qasim

> During appletb_kbd_probe, probe attempts to get the backlight device
> by name. When this happens backlight_device_get_by_name looks for a
> device in the backlight class which has name "appletb_backlight" and
> upon finding a match it increments the reference count for the device
> and returns it to the caller. However this reference is never released
> leading to a reference leak.

Good catch.

> Fix this by decrementing the backlight device reference count on removal
> via put_device and on probe failure.

Thanks for the fix!

> Fixes: 93a0fc489481 ("HID: hid-appletb-kbd: add support for automatic brightness control while using the touchbar")
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Qasim Ijaz <qasdev00@xxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Aditya Garg <gargaditya08@xxxxxxxx>