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CVE-2026-74261
ALSA: seq: avoid stale FIFO cells during resize
Published 2026-08-15 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem sound/core. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-74261 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | vulnerable | 6.1.190-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication. |
| Debian 13trixie | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
snd_seq_fifo_resize() still needs to publish the replacement pool before it waits for FIFO users. A blocking snd_seq_read() holds f->use_lock while it sleeps, so concurrent senders must be able to queue to the new pool and wake that reader instead of failing against a closing old pool. However, snd_seq_fifo_event_in() duplicates an event before it takes f->lock, and snd_seq_read() can dequeue a cell and later call snd_seq_fifo_cell_putback() if copy_to_user() or snd_seq_expand_var_event() fails. If resize swaps f->pool and detaches oldhead in between, either path can relink an old-pool cell after the snapshot. That stale cell sits outside the drained oldhead list, keeps oldpool->counter elevated, and can leave snd_seq_pool_delete() waiting for the retired pool to drain. Keep the existing swap-before-wait ordering in snd_seq_fifo_resize(), but reject stale cells before any FIFO relink. Revalidate event-in cells under f->lock and retry them against the published replacement pool, and free stale putback cells instead of linking them back into the FIFO. The buggy scenario involves two paths, with each column showing the order within that path: resize path: relink path: 1. Allocate newpool. 1. Take f->use_lock. 2. Swap f->pool to newpool and 2. Duplicate or dequeue an old-pool detach oldhead. cell before oldpool closes. 3. Mark oldpool closing and 3. Reach a later relink point after wait for FIFO users. resize published newpool. 4. Free oldhead and delete 4. Relink the old-pool cell after oldpool. resize detached oldhead. 5. Drop f->use_lock. The reproducer reports a resize ioctl blocked in the expected pool teardown path: signal: resize iteration=98 target_pool=4 exceeded 250ms (elapsed=251ms) diagnostic: resize_tid=651 wchan=snd_seq_pool_done diagnostic: resize_tid=651 stack= snd_seq_pool_done+0x5b/0x140 snd_seq_pool_delete+0x7a/0x90 snd_seq_fifo_resize+0x193/0x1e0 snd_seq_ioctl_set_client_pool+0x214/0x260 snd_seq_ioctl+0x119/0x540 __x64_sys_ioctl+0xd1/0x120 do_syscall_64+0xbb/0x2f0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f A second run with larger pools hit the same target path: signal: resize iteration=32 target_pool=64 exceeded 250ms (elapsed=251ms) diagnostic: resize_tid=663 wchan=snd_seq_pool_done diagnostic: resize_tid=663 stack= snd_seq_pool_done+0x5b/0x140 snd_seq_pool_delete+0x7a/0x90 snd_seq_fifo_resize+0x193/0x1e0 snd_seq_ioctl_set_client_pool+0x214/0x260 snd_seq_ioctl+0x119/0x540 __x64_sys_ioctl+0xd1/0x120 do_syscall_64+0xbb/0x2f0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
sound/core/seq/seq_fifo.c
- What this is
- SOUNDMAINTAINERS section matched on sound/ · linux-sound@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- snd_seq
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_SND|CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER' /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w snd_seqPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switches
- CONFIG_SND, CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-15 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- no vector published, unrated
- Attack vector
- not published
- EPSS
- 0.20%, higher than 9.6% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- sound/core
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.11 | 6.18.40 | 98a965cb1e76 |
| 4.11 | 7.1.5 | 1c4c35fb68d5 |
| 4.11 | 7.2 | e546128291f8 |
| 3.2.91 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.10.107 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.12.73 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.16.46 | 0 | 0 |
| 3.18.50 | 0 | 0 |
| 4.1.40 | 0 | 0 |
| 4.4.60 | 0 | 0 |
| 4.9.21 | 0 | 0 |
| 4.10.9 | 0 | 0 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2026-74261, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.