icrocode image from userspace when actually the usermodehelpers are disabled or userspace has been frozen. Some of the example scenarios that cause freezing failures due to this race are those that depend on userspace via request_firmware(), such as x86 microcode module initialization and microcode image reload. Previous discussions about this issue can be found at: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1198291/focus=1200591 This patch adds proper synchronization to fix this issue. It is to be noted that this patchset fixes the freezing failures but doesn't remove the warnings. IOW, it does not attempt to add explicit synchronization to x86 microcode driver to avoid requesting microcode image at inopportune moments. Because, the warnings were introduced to highlight such cases, in the first place. And we need not silence the warnings, since we take care of the *real* problem (freezing failure) and hence, after that, the warnings are pretty harmless anyway. Signed-off-by: Srivatsa S. Bhat Signed-off-by: Rafael J. Wysocki ”Ì