Linux Kernel CVE-2026-31777

Update the Linux kernel to version 7.0 or later for mainline systems, or apply patch commit d4d3b8cbb70a2de247cbfe99bdb232aef9ed59bc. For stable kernel users, update to Linux 6.19.12 or later, or apply patch commit 277c6960d4ddb94d16198afd70c92c3d4593d131. References for patch details are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d4d3b8cbb70a2de247cbfe99bdb232aef9ed59bc and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/277c6960d4ddb94d16198afd70c92c3d4593d131. If immediate patching is not feasible, systems without Creative X-Fi audio hardware can mitigate by unloading the ctxfi kernel module (sudo rmmod snd_ctxfi), which eliminates the attack surface entirely with the trade-off of losing audio functionality for any X-Fi devices. Alternatively, restrict local system access to trusted users only, reducing the pool of local attackers with PR:L (Low privilege) access required by this vulnerability.