CVE-2026-98837

ALSA: caiaq: unregister the input device when probe fails

CVE-2026-98837 is fixed in 12 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98837, released October 19, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.

Routine
CVSS
4.6
Moderate
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0021
11th percentile

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: caiaq: unregister the input device when probe fails setup_card() registers the input device, whose name and phys point into struct snd_usb_caiaqdev, and then goes on to snd_card_register() and snd_usb_caiaq_control_init(). If either fails, snd_probe() calls snd_card_free(), which frees the device state but leaves the input device registered: card_free() only clears the pointer, and the input device is unregistered from snd_disconnect() alone. Reading its "uevent" attribute afterwards dereferences freed memory: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in string+0x4a9/0x4f0 Read of size 1 at addr ffff8880208f5043 by task caiaq/4967 add_uevent_var+0x183/0x3a0 input_dev_uevent+0x162/0x900 dev_uevent+0x2f1/0x870 uevent_show+0x1ca/0x3a0 ... Unregister the input device on the probe error path, as snd_disconnect() does. snd_usb_caiaq_input_disconnect() is a no-op when no input device was registered. Reproduced with a raw-gadget Audio Kontrol 1 and a temporary hack that makes snd_usb_caiaq_control_init() fail.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
kernel-64kb · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-azure · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-default · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-default-base · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1.150700.17.51.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-docs · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP7_Update_24 · sles 15.7 1-150700.15.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-obs-build · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-source · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-syms · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-zfcpdump · sles 15.7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1 SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1 Nov 7, 2026
linux · Debian 13.5 (trixie) 6.12.113-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98837 Oct 19, 2026
linux · Debian 14 7.2.10-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98837 Oct 19, 2026
linux-6.12 · Debian 12.15 (bookworm) 6.12.113-1~deb12u1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98837 Oct 19, 2026

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