Expired Pointer Dereference Affecting kernel-modules-internal package, versions *

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-modules-internal package and not the kernel-modules-internal package as distributed by RHEL. See How to fix? for RHEL:8 relevant fixed versions and status.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ALSA: core: Fix use-after-free in snd_card_do_free()

A use-after-free was detected in snd_card_do_free() when a sound card managed by devres is unbound while a user-space application still holds an open file descriptor.

For managed cards, the memory is allocated using devres_alloc(), and its release function is set to __snd_card_release(), which calls snd_card_free(). When the device is unbound, the unbind thread calls snd_card_free(), which drops a reference to the card's device. If the user thread still has an open file descriptor, the reference count does not reach zero, and the unbind thread blocks on wait_for_completion(&released).

When the user thread closes the file descriptor, it drops the final reference, invoking the device release callback release_card_device(), which calls snd_card_do_free(). snd_card_do_free() performs cleanup and calls complete(card->release_completion). This wakes up the unbind thread, which returns from snd_card_free() and __snd_card_release(). The devres core then immediately frees the memory block containing the snd_card structure.

Meanwhile, the user thread continues execution in snd_card_do_free() and evaluates if (!card->managed). It reads the managed boolean from the snd_card structure that was just freed by the unbind thread, triggering a KASAN use-after-free.

Fix this by caching the value of card->managed in a local variable before calling complete(). This ensures that the card pointer is not dereferenced after the unbind thread has been woken up and potentially freed the card.

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in snd_card_do_free sound/core/init.c:604 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in release_card_device+0x1ab/0x1b0 sound/core/init.c:153 Read of size 1 at addr ffff8881912ec909 by task syz-executor130/5857

Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description+0x55/0x1e0 mm/kasan/report.c:378 print_report+0x58/0x70 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x117/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 snd_card_do_free sound/core/init.c:604 [inline] release_card_device+0x1ab/0x1b0 sound/core/init.c:153 device_release+0xc4/0x1f0 drivers/base/core.c:-1 kobject_cleanup lib/kobject.c:689 [inline] kobject_release lib/kobject.c:720 [inline] kref_put include/linux/kref.h:65 [inline] kobject_put+0x222/0x550 lib/kobject.c:737 snd_card_file_remove+0x331/0x390 sound/core/init.c:1125 snd_pcm_release+0x12c/0x160 sound/core/pcm_native.c:2986 __fput+0x418/0xa50 fs/file_table.c:512 fput_close_sync+0x11f/0x240 fs/file_table.c:617 __do_sys_close fs/open.c:1511 [inline] __se_sys_close fs/open.c:1496 [inline] __x64_sys_close+0x7e/0x110 fs/open.c:1496 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x174/0x580 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f </TASK>

• https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-90198
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/03c5dabc8f16bc212a5b26d2425c03a55e55a86d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09b27dd01b98480334c10bf6fb8d41d5fb063a4b
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5ae1a690c522fea2900ff56c8c2ace7b059f5e04
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6da22efb5cf490b06ffbca32b10fc8af7654fee0
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d9b5e86775fa97a487da08b9aa76e1674bf8868
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a561012868ae37c28f61fdf658bf6f251bc0e8e8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3d67f680dbc23a5e5e3d3ecfdbf700465809877