--- sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c	2026-06-29 12:51:19.000000000 +0000
+++ /tmp/opencode/fixsrc/sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c	2026-10-24 13:14:50.717342896 +0000
@@ -4934,6 +4934,12 @@
 		kprintf("fhopen: regular file did not "
 			"have VM object: %p\n",
 			vp);
+		/* DF-2551 fix: report the failure and avoid the locked-vnode
+		 * close in bad_drop (was: success with no fd + self-deadlock
+		 * panic in vn_close). */
+		error = EINVAL;
+		fp->f_ops = &badfileops;
+		fp->f_data = NULL;
 		goto bad_drop;
 	}