Out-of-bounds write in Linux kernel ua101 USB audio driver
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel ua101 USB audio driver from 2.6.34 does not check that the capture and playback endpoints declare matching packet sizes and channel counts. A USB device that declares a large capture packet size with few capture channels and a small playback packet size with many playback channels causes memory writes past the end of the playback buffer when the playback PCM node is opened.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: ua101: reject mismatched capture/playback packet sizes detect_usb_format() cross-checks bSubframeSize, bBitResolution and tSamFreq between the capture and playback interfaces, but never relates the two endpoints' wMaxPacketSize and bNrChannels. Each playback URB gets a buffer of ua->playback.max_packet_bytes, while the number of bytes written into it is derived from the capture stream: capture_urb_complete() computes frames from the received capture packet and capture.frame_bytes, and start_usb_playback() and playback_work() multiply that by playback.frame_bytes. A device declaring a large capture wMaxPacketSize with few capture channels and a small playback wMaxPacketSize with many playback channels therefore memset()s and memcpy()s past the end of the playback buffer, in open() of the PCM node the driver registers during probe. usb_submit_urb() rejects the over-long iso_frame_desc[0].length with -EMSGSIZE, but only after the write. Reject such descriptors at probe time. Genuine UA-101/UA-1000 hardware declares proportional packet sizes and is unaffected. BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in start_usb_playback (sound/usb/misc/ua101.c:586) Write of size 2048 at addr ffff8881098f3c00 by task exploit/5021 Call Trace: __asan_memset (mm/kasan/shadow.c:84) start_usb_playback (sound/usb/misc/ua101.c:586) playback_pcm_open (sound/usb/misc/ua101.c:679) snd_pcm_open_substream (sound/core/pcm_native.c:2829) snd_pcm_open (sound/core/pcm_native.c:2865 sound/core/pcm_native.c:2932) snd_pcm_playback_open (sound/core/pcm_native.c:2891) snd_open (sound/core/sound.c:166) chrdev_open (fs/char_dev.c:411) do_dentry_open (fs/open.c:996) vfs_open (fs/open.c:1101) path_openat (fs/namei.c:4837 fs/namei.c:5000) do_file_open (fs/namei.c:5029) do_sys_openat2 (fs/open.c:1417) __x64_sys_openat (fs/open.c:1423 fs/open.c:1439 fs/open.c:1434) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121) The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8881098f3c00 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-192 of size 192 The buggy address is located 0 bytes inside of allocated 168-byte region [ffff8881098f3c00, ffff8881098f3ca8)
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 | 2.6.34 and later | 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10, 7.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.34 and later Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10, 7.3 Patch available CNA
Remediation
The Linux kernel fixes are in versions 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10 and 7.3. Red Hat lists no available fix plan for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.56, 7.2.10, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98741
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-3vm7-3m85-mm4q
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@ada5ded765f059a6e3036e69ca350449442af0fc · CNA
- 2026-10-21 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-23 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-23 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@0a6a5eecc92c13f936d8d90975116d6bbdf4f876, Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +3 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 3 new references · CNA
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b54976c81a6b8cae311b75be1a4cda444689bca0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a2d326b3f6d470ea4bfde00245794e0dc6dbbc3d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0a6a5eecc92c13f936d8d90975116d6bbdf4f876
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ada5ded765f059a6e3036e69ca350449442af0fc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd3a7bf0d988b0878a1957df150edb35f81db87e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eb0c7fda59cf650076f8ed5b949a6c8441aa3606
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4294fe57048594a9e158b61c967bb7f943cda477
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/86f86e6fdedc33c5b8d38b9208b350f8accf57ee
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98741 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98741 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-3vm7-3m85-mm4q · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98741 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences