High · published May 8, 2026
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.
| Product | Versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 3.0, < 5.10.253 | 5.10.253 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 5.11, < 6.1.167 | 6.1.167 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.2, < 6.6.130 | 6.6.130 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.7, < 6.12.78 | 6.12.78 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.13, < 6.18.19 | 6.18.19 |
| linux/linux_kernel | ≥ 6.19, < 6.19.9 | 6.19.9 |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |
| linux/linux_kernel | all versions | — |