cpu/esp8266: Fix crashes of the ESP866 when rebooting with or disconnecting from WiFi [backport 2026.01]#22019
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leandrolanzieri merged 2 commits intoRIOT-OS:2026.01-branchfrom Jan 28, 2026
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(cherry-picked from commit 0fbea71) With the ESP8266, this function is only called by `ieee80211_sta_new_state`, with interrupts of all levels disabled, for example as a result of executing `esp_wifi_disconnect`. If `ztimer_sleep` is then called with interrupts disabled, for some reason this leads to memory corruption when interrupts are re-enabled afterwards. The only way to avoid this is to re-enable interrupts before calling `ztimer_sleep`. Since debugging ESP8266 code is very limited and sometimes impossible due to there being only one hardware breakpoint and a lot of closed binary code involved when calling `esp_wifi_disconnect`, it was not possible to find the reason for the memory corruption. An exception occurs after executing `esp_wifi_disconnect` in `ztimer_handler` when `_callback_unlock_mutex` is called with a mutex parameter that points to irrelevant read-only memory in IROM. Therefore, enabling the interrupts here is currently the only way to avoid the exception, even though this is only a hack.
(cherry-picked from commit e2d0e28) Even though `esp_wifi_stop` is implicitly called later in the restart process by `esp_restart`, it is cleaner to stop the WiFi interface here before saving the RTT counters.
leandrolanzieri
approved these changes
Jan 28, 2026
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Backport of #22014
This PR fixes the problem described in issue #21558.
With the ESP8266,
vTaskDelayis only called byieee80211_sta_new_state, with interrupts of all levels disabled, for example as a result of executingesp_wifi_disconnect.vTaskDelayusesztimer_sleepand ifztimer_sleepis then called with interrupts disabled, it leads to memory corruption for some reason when interrupts are re-enabled afterwards. The only way to avoid this is to re-enable interrupts before callingztimer_sleepinvTaskDelay.Since debugging ESP8266 code is very limited and sometimes impossible due to there being only one hardware breakpoint and a lot of closed binary code involved when calling
esp_wifi_disconnect, it was not possible to find the reason for the memory corruption. An exception occurs after executingesp_wifi_disconnectinztimer_handlerwhen_callback_unlock_mutexis called with a mutex parameter that points to wrong address in IROM.Therefore, enabling the interrupts in
vTaskDelaybefore callingztimer_sleepis currently the only way to avoid the exception, even though this is only a hack.The PR includes a small improvement of the
pm_rebootfunction. Even thoughesp_wifi_stopis implicitly called later in the restart process byesp_restart, it is cleaner to stop the WiFi interface here before saving the RTT counters.Testing procedure
Compile and flash the GNRC networking example for any ESP8266 with WiFi enabled:
Without the PR, using
rebootafter connecting to the WiFi AP will lead to an exception. With the PR, it should work.Issues/PRs references
Fixes #21558