Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local sound-device access (AV:L/PR:L), a narrow inter-thread race window (AC:H); impact is state inconsistency/kernel warning only (A:L, no confidentiality or integrity loss).
Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).
CVSS VectorVendor: Linux
Lifecycle Timeline
8DescriptionCVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ALSA: pcm: Fix race between non-atomic ops and trigger-start
We protect the races of the concurrent state transitions between atomic PCM ops, but the checks between the non-atomic ops (hw_params, hw_free and prepare) and the atomic ops aren't perfect; there is a check of the conflicting PCM state at the beginning of hw_params & co, but the atomic PCM ops can be still issued during the non-atomic PCM operations. An example such scenario is that a thread A re-issues the PREPARE or HW_PARAMS for the already prepared stream, while another thread B triggers the PCM start in the middle of the prepare operation. Although this usually doesn't lead to much serious issues, it can give some inconsistency as reported by syzkaller (such as ODEBUG warning).
There are various atomic PCM ops, and basically the only problem is the PCM start as it operates from the PREPARED state. Other trigger commands (stop, etc) are for the running or the other special state, hence they are filtered as pre-condition.
This patch is for preventing the PCM trigger-start during the non- atomic operations in order to address the problems above. Fortunately, the hw_params, hw_free and prepare operations call snd_pcm_buffer_access_lock(), and this can be used for checking the concurrent operations at the PCM trigger -- which sets the runtime->buffer_accessing to a negative (if possible), so the PCM trigger just needs to check the runtime->buffer_accessing value; if it's negative, it means the concurrent non-atomic PCM ops is running.
AnalysisAI
A race condition in the Linux kernel ALSA PCM (sound) subsystem allows a local, authenticated user with access to a sound device node to trigger conflicting PCM state transitions - specifically, an atomic trigger-start racing a non-atomic hw_params, hw_free, or prepare operation on the same stream. The realistic outcome is internal state inconsistency and a kernel ODEBUG warning (as reported by syzkaller), not memory corruption or privilege escalation; the distro-assigned CVSS of 7.8 is substantially overstated relative to the assessed vector (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L), which reflects low availability impact only. …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Requires LOCAL access to an ALSA PCM device node (typically /dev/snd/pcm*, gated by the audio group / device permissions) and the ability to run concurrent threads issuing PCM ioctls on the same stream. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | This is a classic case of a high CVSS score overstating real-world risk. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | Full exploit scenario with step-by-step reproduction available after sign-in. |
| Remediation | Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Linux 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.51, or 7.2.5 (7.3-rc2 contains the fix on the mainline development branch); distribution users should apply their vendor's kernel update that incorporates the corresponding stable commit, referenced above at git.kernel.org. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours, confirm whether the affected Linux kernel ALSA PCM subsystem is exposed to untrusted local users by inventorying hosts that allocate sound device nodes (for example through container device passthrough, virtual desktop, or shared workstation images), and validate that the kernel packages in use match the vendor advisory's affected range; no emergency change is required given that no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and exploitation requires local authenticated access with sound device permission. …
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-80579
GHSA-r2rw-736q-8cv3