Service interruption via unchecked negative device index
Published May 1, 2026 · Updated May 1, 2026
Unchecked return handling in the ALSA ctxfi driver in Linux Kernel 2.6.31 through 6.19.11 allows local users to interrupt service. The daio_device_index() helper can return -EINVAL, but callers passed that result as a hardware index instead of stopping, allowing an invalid index to reach DAIO control operations. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access and an affected ctxfi audio path; 7.0-rc1 through 7.0-rc6 are also affected, with no reported data disclosure or modification.
Summary
What happened
Unchecked return handling in the ALSA ctxfi driver in Linux Kernel 2.6.31 through 6.19.11 allows local users to interrupt service. The daio_device_index() helper can return -EINVAL, but callers passed that result as a hardware index instead of stopping, allowing an invalid index to reach DAIO control operations. Exploitation requires local low-privilege access and an affected ctxfi audio path; 7.0-rc1 through 7.0-rc6 are also affected, with no reported data disclosure or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-31777
- Published
- May 1, 2026
- Updated
- May 1, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 1, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <277c6960d4ddb94d16198afd70c92c3d4593d131
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <d4d3b8cbb70a2de247cbfe99bdb232aef9ed59bc
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Attacks
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