Bug 2536191 (CVE-2026-90198)

Summary: CVE-2026-90198 kernel: ALSA: core: Fix use-after-free in snd_card_do_free()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, 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 ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) core. A local user could exploit a use-after-free vulnerability when a sound card is unbound while a user-space application still holds an open file descriptor. This race condition allows the system to attempt to access memory after it has been freed, potentially leading to system instability or a denial of service.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 16:43:27 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ALSA: core: Fix use-after-free in snd_card_do_free()

A use-after-free was detected in snd_card_do_free() when a sound card
managed by devres is unbound while a user-space application still holds an
open file descriptor.

For managed cards, the memory is allocated using devres_alloc(), and its
release function is set to __snd_card_release(), which calls
snd_card_free(). When the device is unbound, the unbind thread calls
snd_card_free(), which drops a reference to the card's device. If the user
thread still has an open file descriptor, the reference count does not
reach zero, and the unbind thread blocks on wait_for_completion(&released).

When the user thread closes the file descriptor, it drops the final
reference, invoking the device release callback release_card_device(),
which calls snd_card_do_free(). snd_card_do_free() performs cleanup and
calls complete(card->release_completion). This wakes up the unbind thread,
which returns from snd_card_free() and __snd_card_release(). The devres
core then immediately frees the memory block containing the snd_card
structure.

Meanwhile, the user thread continues execution in snd_card_do_free() and
evaluates `if (!card->managed)`. It reads the `managed` boolean from the
snd_card structure that was just freed by the unbind thread, triggering a
KASAN use-after-free.

Fix this by caching the value of card->managed in a local variable before
calling complete(). This ensures that the card pointer is not dereferenced
after the unbind thread has been woken up and potentially freed the card.

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in snd_card_do_free sound/core/init.c:604
[inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in release_card_device+0x1ab/0x1b0
sound/core/init.c:153
Read of size 1 at addr ffff8881912ec909 by task syz-executor130/5857

Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120
 print_address_description+0x55/0x1e0 mm/kasan/report.c:378
 print_report+0x58/0x70 mm/kasan/report.c:482
 kasan_report+0x117/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595
 snd_card_do_free sound/core/init.c:604 [inline]
 release_card_device+0x1ab/0x1b0 sound/core/init.c:153
 device_release+0xc4/0x1f0 drivers/base/core.c:-1
 kobject_cleanup lib/kobject.c:689 [inline]
 kobject_release lib/kobject.c:720 [inline]
 kref_put include/linux/kref.h:65 [inline]
 kobject_put+0x222/0x550 lib/kobject.c:737
 snd_card_file_remove+0x331/0x390 sound/core/init.c:1125
 snd_pcm_release+0x12c/0x160 sound/core/pcm_native.c:2986
 __fput+0x418/0xa50 fs/file_table.c:512
 fput_close_sync+0x11f/0x240 fs/file_table.c:617
 __do_sys_close fs/open.c:1511 [inline]
 __se_sys_close fs/open.c:1496 [inline]
 __x64_sys_close+0x7e/0x110 fs/open.c:1496
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x174/0x580 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
 </TASK>