* [PATCH v7 2/2] Bluetooth: hci_sync: pause advertising for the scan address update
2026-10-19 12:41 [PATCH v7 1/2] Bluetooth: hci_sync: re-enable legacy advertising on resume Valentin Kindschi
@ 2026-10-19 12:41 ` Valentin Kindschi
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From: Valentin Kindschi @ 2026-10-19 12:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-bluetooth
Cc: marcel, johan.hedberg, luiz.dentz, linux-kernel,
Valentin Kindschi, stable
hci_active_scan_sync() programs a non-resolvable private address with LE
Set Random Address on every active scan start.
BLUETOOTH CORE SPECIFICATION Vol 4, Part E, 7.8.4 says the controller
shall return Command Disallowed (0x0C) for that command while legacy
advertising or scanning is enabled. hci_pause_addr_resolution(), called
just above, only stops advertising when LL privacy is in use, so on a
controller without it the command is issued while advertising is still
on:
Bluetooth: hci0: Opcode 0x2005 failed: -16
It does not converge either. hdev->random_addr is only set on a
successful command complete, so it stays BDADDR_ANY, and the deferral
added by commit c2994b008492 ("Bluetooth: hci_sync: Fix not setting
Random Address when required") requires it to be set. Unlike the
resolvable address a few lines above, which is reused while rpa_valid(),
the non-resolvable one is regenerated and rewritten on every call, so a
controller that refuses the write is asked again at the scan restart
period of about 10 s, for as long as discovery keeps restarting.
Observed on a BCM43455, which has no LL privacy and no extended
advertising, 190 rejections in one capture, every one retrying the same
address:
< LE Set Random Address Address: 02:16:91:90:F1:D4 (Non-Resolvable)
> Command Complete LE Set Random Address, Command Disallowed
< LE Set Random Address Address: 26:90:57:96:9A:3E (Non-Resolvable)
> Command Complete LE Set Random Address, Command Disallowed
Pause advertising for the address update, and resume it once the update
is done and before the scan is started. The pause does not outlive the
function: it is taken only when nothing else holds it, and every exit
resumes advertising, which also releases the pause taken by
hci_pause_addr_resolution(). A failed pause returns before marking
anything paused, so the error path is a no-op.
The resume in the error path is no longer guarded by ll_privacy_capable().
That guard matched a pause taken only under LL privacy; the pause added
here is unconditional, and hci_resume_advertising_sync() returns early
when nothing was paused.
One caveat this widens, raised on the previous posting. When
HCI_ADVERTISING is set, hci_pause_advertising_sync() also clears
HCI_DISCOVERABLE and HCI_LIMITED_DISCOVERABLE and zeroes discov_timeout,
and hci_resume_advertising_sync() restores only HCI_ADVERTISING, so the
discoverable state is lost. It reproduces today on an LL privacy
controller through hci_pause_addr_resolution(); the unconditional pause
makes it reachable without LL privacy as well. hci_suspend_sync() also
pauses unconditionally, so a device that suspends loses the same state
on any controller today. That asymmetry is pre-existing and is left
alone here rather than folded into a scan path fix.
Legacy controllers have one random address register, shared by the
scanner and the advertiser. Restoring the advertiser here can reprogram
it when the advertiser is non-connectable, so the scan then uses that
address rather than the one generated for it. Both are non-resolvable
and neither is linkable to the identity address. With privacy enabled
both roles already share one resolvable address the same way.
With the patch, on the same hardware:
< LE Set Advertising Enable Enable: 0x00 Success
< LE Set Random Address Success
< LE Set Advertising Parameters Success
< LE Set Advertising Enable Enable: 0x01 Success
< LE Set Scan Parameters Success
< LE Set Scan Enable Enable: 0x01 Success
The address write is accepted, and advertising is restored before the
scan is started.
Over 119369 btmon records and about 12 minutes of the normal workload of
that device, alternating active and passive scanning with ten outgoing
connection attempts, every LE Set Random Address succeeded and there were
no Command Disallowed responses of any opcode, against one per scan
restart before.
Patch 1 is required: without it the resume added here returns -EPERM on
the controllers this fixes and leaves advertising disabled.
Fixes: 3c44a431d62b ("Bluetooth: hci_sync: Resume adv with no RPA when active scan")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-5.5 btmon
Signed-off-by: Valentin Kindschi <valentin.kindschi@fiveco.ch>
---
Changes in v7:
- Reword the commit message: the resume on the error path also releases the
pause taken by hci_pause_addr_resolution(), so it is not conditional on
this function having taken a pause.
Changes in v6:
- Drop the comment from the Cc: stable trailer; it exceeded the line length
gitlint enforces. The dependency on patch 1 is stated in the commit message.
Changes in v5:
- Split into two patches. v4's resume was reached through
hci_schedule_adv_instance_sync(), which refuses HCI_ADVERTISING on a
controller without extended advertising, so advertising was never
re-enabled. Patch 1 fixes that and is a prerequisite for this one.
- Do not resume on the success path. hci_resume_advertising_sync()
reaches hci_update_random_address_sync(), which for a non-connectable
advertiser programs a fresh address, and doing that with the scan
already enabled is refused the same way. Resume before the scan is
started instead.
- Take the pause only when nothing else holds it and release it on every
exit, so it cannot be released by another user of
hdev->advertising_paused.
- v4 claimed the resume commands in the capture were issued with the scan
already running and succeeded. That capture came from a build whose
resume ran elsewhere; the claim is dropped. The capture above is from
this version, on the device, under its normal workload.
- Fixes: now points at 3c44a431d62b, where the pause became conditional
on LL privacy, rather than at the introduction of the scan function.
Changes in v4:
- Report the HCI_DISCOVERABLE asymmetry raised in review rather than fix
it, with a reproducer in the commit message.
- Keep the explicit return on the success path, so the resume runs there
and the function no longer falls through into failed:.
- Shorten the added comments to one line each.
Changes in v3:
- Resend, no code change; v2 had no reply. Rechecked that it still applies
to bluetooth-next.
- Added the second capture described above, taken with the two patches from
the "endless adv params retry" series applied, since in bluetooth-next,
confirming the fix holds with cancelled outgoing connections in the mix.
Changes in v2:
- Rebased onto bluetooth-next: mainline renamed use_ll_privacy() to
ll_privacy_capable(). No functional change.
net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c | 15 ++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c b/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
index d215432db..e9b2d28ff 100644
--- a/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
+++ b/net/bluetooth/hci_sync.c
@@ -6339,6 +6339,7 @@ static int hci_active_scan_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, uint16_t interval)
u8 filter_policy = 0x00;
/* Default is to enable duplicates filter */
u8 filter_dup = LE_SCAN_FILTER_DUP_ENABLE;
+ bool paused;
int err;
bt_dev_dbg(hdev, "");
@@ -6362,6 +6363,12 @@ static int hci_active_scan_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, uint16_t interval)
if (err)
goto failed;
+ /* LE Set Random Address is disallowed while advertising is enabled. */
+ paused = !hdev->advertising_paused;
+ err = hci_pause_advertising_sync(hdev);
+ if (err)
+ goto failed;
+
/* All active scans will be done with either a resolvable private
* address (when privacy feature has been enabled) or non-resolvable
* private address.
@@ -6371,6 +6378,9 @@ static int hci_active_scan_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, uint16_t interval)
if (err < 0)
own_addr_type = ADDR_LE_DEV_PUBLIC;
+ if (paused)
+ hci_resume_advertising_sync(hdev);
+
if (hci_is_adv_monitoring(hdev) ||
(hci_test_quirk(hdev, HCI_QUIRK_STRICT_DUPLICATE_FILTER) &&
hdev->discovery.result_filtering)) {
@@ -6394,9 +6404,8 @@ static int hci_active_scan_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, uint16_t interval)
return err;
failed:
- /* Resume advertising if it was paused */
- if (ll_privacy_capable(hdev))
- hci_resume_advertising_sync(hdev);
+ /* No-op when advertising was not paused. */
+ hci_resume_advertising_sync(hdev);
/* Resume passive scanning */
hci_update_passive_scan_sync(hdev);
--
2.34.1
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