ALSA: pcm: Fix race between non-atomic ops and trigger-start
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: 6 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: 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.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.12 and later | 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.51, 7.2.5, 7.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.12 and later Fixed in 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.51, 7.2.5, 7.3 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.51, 7.2.5, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. 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 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 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-89979
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r2rw-736q-8cv3
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1d12144557fceed5de6e22e2c2e30a40ed37702
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b2edc017f94c08bdd0b046a586e43ac771a2f942
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b599e7f16441386754ec083fa62a549bccb02fca
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad29779736cfd6f5595f0cab300dd7611418e363
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5abeb4f9f2023f001d693b4e5e1ebbf25e25d0eb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ad2ea7c10044b08ecf7b04376916faf12e17a99
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/50afadf1ea66597116eb14e73c24da7ae99b759f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/acac7b5e07349a9d10d78873afb4b93cd1dc721f
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Sources
- CVE-2026-89979 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-89979 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-r2rw-736q-8cv3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-89979 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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