ALSA: seq: oss: Fix UAF at handling events with embedded SysEx data
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: seq: oss: Fix UAF at handling events with embedded SysEx data The OSS sequencer processes the input MIDI bytes into a sequencer event to be dispatched later (in snd_seq_oss_midi_putc() called from snd_seq_oss_process_event()). When it's a SysEx data, the event record contains data.ext.ptr pointer to the original SysEx bytes, and the referred data is copied into the pool afterwards at dispatching. The problem is that, if the sequencer port gets closed concurrently before the dispatch, the OSS sequencer core also releases the resources (in snd_seq_oss_midi_check_exit_port()), while the pending event may hold a stale pointer, eventually leading to a UAF at a later dispatch. Fortunately, there is already a refcounting mechanism (snd_use_lock_t) for the OSS MIDI device access, and for addressing the issue above, we just need to extend the refcount until the event gets dispatched. This patch extends snd_seq_oss_process_event() to give back the refcount object, which is in turn released after calling the sequencer dispatcher with the given event in the caller side. According to the original report, KASAN report as below: KASAN slab-use-after-free in snd_seq_event_dup+0x40c/0x470 RIP: 0033:0x7f2cb66a6340 Read of size 6 Call trace: dump_stack_lvl+0x73/0xb0 (?:?) print_report+0xd1/0x650 (?:?) srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 (?:?) __virt_addr_valid+0x1a7/0x340 (?:?) kasan_complete_mode_report_info+0x64/0x200 (?:?) kasan_report+0xf7/0x130 (?:?) snd_seq_event_dup+0x40c/0x470 (?:?) kasan_check_range+0x10c/0x1c0 (?:?) __asan_memcpy+0x27/0x70 (?:?) snd_seq_event_dup+0x9/0x470 (?:?) snd_seq_client_enqueue_event+0x139/0x240 (?:?) _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x4b/0x60 (?:?) snd_seq_kernel_client_enqueue+0x102/0x120 (?:?) snd_seq_oss_write+0x416/0x4e0 (?:?) apparmor_file_permission+0x20/0x30 (?:?) odev_write+0x3b/0x60 (?:?) vfs_write+0x1ce/0x850 (?:?) lock_release+0xc8/0x2a0 (?:?) __kasan_check_write+0x18/0x20 (?:?) __mutex_unlock_slowpath+0x129/0x510 (?:?) ksys_write+0xe1/0x180 (?:?) mutex_unlock+0x16/0x20 (?:?) odev_ioctl+0x65/0xc0 (?:?) __x64_sys_write+0x46/0x60 (?:?) x64_sys_call+0x7d/0x20d0 (?:?) do_syscall_64+0xc1/0x360 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:87) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f (?:?)
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-74388
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-qr2g-fp68-m7q5
- 2026-10-18 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@bc963e193b314f1441082e8b1ffe15eb255d0a44 +1 · CNA
- 2026-10-21 2 new references · CNA
- 2026-10-30 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@3e85e690e787fa42f35e1bd9d18a7979c201d165, Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-30 1 new reference · CNA
References
Other 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3e85e690e787fa42f35e1bd9d18a7979c201d165
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bc963e193b314f1441082e8b1ffe15eb255d0a44
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e96824274239ae4cd2f7b712644441cdc72c81a3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6dc781778b595be94c31395b2cb167f65145d91f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7aad70cabd8f34cf11a9593fcd3f2ac3f5496943
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7c349b4f2a603202fb8c363bd2774a22ac2fddf3
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Sources
- CVE-2026-74388 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-74388 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-qr2g-fp68-m7q5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-74388 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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