Local privilege escalation via stale ALSA page mapping
Published Sep 25, 2026 · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel ALSA PCM subsystem allows local users to escalate privileges through concurrent mapping and reallocation. snd_pcm_mmap_data maps the old DMA buffer before incrementing mmap_count, while a concurrent hardware-parameter operation can pass its earlier count check and free those pages. Access to an mmap-capable PCM device and a won race are required; success leaves a stale writable mapping to allocator-reused pages.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel ALSA PCM subsystem allows local users to escalate privileges through concurrent mapping and reallocation. snd_pcm_mmap_data maps the old DMA buffer before incrementing mmap_count, while a concurrent hardware-parameter operation can pass its earlier count check and free those pages. Access to an mmap-capable PCM device and a won race are required; success leaves a stale writable mapping to allocator-reused pages.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98116
- Published
- Sep 25, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=0090c13cbbdffd7da079ac56f80373a9a1be0bf8
- Affected versionversion=0f6947f5f5208f6ebd4d76a82a4757e2839a23f8
- Affected versionversion=1bbf82d9f961414d6c76a08f7f843ea068e0ab7b
- Affected versionversion=33061d0fba51d2bf70a2ef9645f703c33fe8e438
- Affected versionversion=4.14.279 <4.15
- Affected versionversion=4.19.243 <4.20
- Affected versionversion=5.10.109 <5.11
- Affected versionversion=5.15.32 <5.16
- Affected versionversion=5.16.18 <5.17
- Affected versionversion=5.17.1 <5.18
- Affected versionversion=5.18
- Affected versionversion=5.4.193 <5.5
- Affected versionversion=92ee3c60ec9fe64404dc035e7c41277d74aa26cb <8c1882dfee8f404d118020664b73eb4592172226
- Affected versionversion=92ee3c60ec9fe64404dc035e7c41277d74aa26cb <9b110a9dcecc59516c77cb3c0caf1f492f75df2d
- Affected versionversion=92ee3c60ec9fe64404dc035e7c41277d74aa26cb <cbc7ec97601d09b74e05e44470fa6b0bcdabf3f5
- Affected versionversion=92ee3c60ec9fe64404dc035e7c41277d74aa26cb <fd137bf8149bc6460f9b7b1fc292025da04cb9ee
- Affected versionversion=9cb6c40a6ebe4a0cfc9d6a181958211682cffea9
- Affected versionversion=a42aa926843acca96c0dfbde2e835b8137f2f092
- Affected versionversion=fbeb492694ce0441053de57699e1e2b7bc148a69
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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