CVE-2026-43437
ALSA: pcm: fix use-after-free on linked stream runtime in snd_pcm_drain()
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.8 High
- Published
- May 8, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 19, 2026
- Reserved
- May 1, 2026
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ALSA: pcm: fix use-after-free on linked stream runtime in snd_pcm_drain()
In the drain loop, the local variable 'runtime' is reassigned to a linked stream's runtime (runtime = s->runtime at line 2157). After releasing the stream lock at line 2169, the code accesses runtime->no_period_wakeup, runtime->rate, and runtime->buffer_size (lines 2170-2178) — all referencing the linked stream's runtime without any lock or refcount protecting its lifetime.
A concurrent close() on the linked stream's fd triggers snd_pcm_release_substream() → snd_pcm_drop() → pcm_release_private() → snd_pcm_unlink() → snd_pcm_detach_substream() → kfree(runtime). No synchronization prevents kfree(runtime) from completing while the drain path dereferences the stale pointer.
Fix by caching the needed runtime fields (no_period_wakeup, rate, buffer_size) into local variables while still holding the stream lock, and using the cached values after the lock is released.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | Linux |
Weaknesses
- CWE-416 Use After Free
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
LinuxLinux |
|
LinuxLinux |
|
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9baee36e8c5443411c4629afabafaff8a46a23fd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f2cb2e0d27fb925c73a78f0ce7d6dbf68d3747c1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fc71f888994569f87d5bee20b1ac6c9c1e3a7a79
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/629cf09464cf98670996ea5c191dc9743e6f3f00
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae8f8d30d334bad5b1b3cdb1eb8a0b771f55e432
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a758e9a1f5ed722f83c4dd35f867fe811553bcb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c2f64e05a0587a83ec42dbd6b7a7ded79b2ff694
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b1dbd69ba6f8f8c69bc7b77c2ce3b9c6ed05ba6
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