Hi, Igor!
I have tested 4.9.0 kernel on my Cubieboard (A10, Debian jessie). The same issue:
root@cubieboard:~# mount.cifs //10.0.1.1/Data /mnt/cifs -o sec=ntlm
Password for root@//10.0.1.1/Data: ********
mount error(22): Invalid argument
Refer to the mount.cifs(8) manual page (e.g. man mount.cifs)
root@cubieboard:~# uname -a
Linux cubieboard 4.9.0-sunxi #6 SMP Sun Oct 23 16:00:06 CEST 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux
root@cubieboard:~# tail /var/log/messages
Nov 1 21:50:32 localhost kernel: [ 47.234972] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:32 localhost kernel: [ 47.485529] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:32 localhost kernel: [ 47.785429] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:42 localhost kernel: [ 57.796352] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:43 localhost kernel: [ 58.355434] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:49 localhost kernel: [ 64.115095] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:49 localhost kernel: [ 64.595420] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:55 localhost kernel: [ 71.020496] Key type cifs.idmap registered
Nov 1 21:50:55 localhost kernel: [ 71.026614] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:56 localhost kernel: [ 71.785428] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
root@cubieboard:~# tail /var/log/syslog
Nov 1 21:50:32 localhost kernel: [ 47.485529] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:32 localhost kernel: [ 47.785429] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:42 localhost kernel: [ 57.796352] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:43 localhost kernel: [ 58.355434] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:49 localhost kernel: [ 64.115095] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:49 localhost kernel: [ 64.595420] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:55 localhost kernel: [ 71.020496] Key type cifs.idmap registered
Nov 1 21:50:55 localhost kernel: [ 71.026614] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Nov 1 21:50:55 localhost kernel: [ 71.030719] sun4i-ss 1c15000.crypto-engine: ERROR: Empty IV
Nov 1 21:50:56 localhost kernel: [ 71.785428] vdd-cpu: ramp_delay not set
Also I have tried to downgrade to 3.4 kernel. But I received unbootable image. Board just switch off after "Starting kernel". The same issue after clean install 5.20 with legacy 3.4 kernel.
It seems module blacklist is the only option now.