Bug 2516968 (CVE-2026-74504)

Summary: CVE-2026-74504 kernel: ALSA: seq: Fix division by zero in initialize_timer()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) sequencer component. An unprivileged local user with access to ALSA timer and sequencer devices can trigger a division-by-zero error. This occurs by manipulating the ALSA timer's hardware resolution, leading to an integer overflow during a calculation, which results in a system hang and a Denial of Service.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 12:41:55 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ALSA: seq: Fix division by zero in initialize_timer()

A userspace-driven ALSA timer (SND_UTIMER) lets an unprivileged user set
the backing snd_timer's hardware resolution to an arbitrary 64-bit value
via SNDRV_TIMER_IOCTL_CREATE. snd_utimer_create() only rejects zero.

When such a timer is bound to a sequencer queue, initialize_timer()
computes the tick period as

	tmr->ticks = 1000000000 / (r * freq);

where r is that user-controlled resolution and freq is the sequencer
update rate in Hz, clamped to MIN_FREQUENCY..MAX_FREQUENCY (10..6250).
A resolution of 2^63 makes the 64-bit product r * freq wrap to zero for
any even freq, including DEFAULT_FREQUENCY (1000), so the division faults
with a divide-by-zero.

The division runs under tmr->lock with interrupts disabled, so the oops
leaves the spinlock held and hangs the CPU. It is reachable by an
unprivileged user with access to /dev/snd/timer and /dev/snd/seq.

  Oops: divide error: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN PTI
  CPU: 7 UID: 1000 PID: 456 Comm: alsa_seq_utimer Not tainted 7.2.0-rc4+
  RIP: 0010:initialize_timer.constprop.0+0x20a/0x2d0
   snd_seq_timer_start+0x15e/0x2b0
   snd_seq_control_queue+0x56f/0xba0
   snd_seq_write+0x3e0/0x730

Reject an overflowing product with check_mul_overflow() and fall back to
a single tick, which also avoids feeding a wrapped-but-nonzero divisor
(e.g. 2^63 * 1000 mod 2^64 == 0, or other resolutions wrapping to a small
value) into the period computation.