Vulnerability · Published May 27, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2026-46048ALSA: caiaq: fix usb_dev refcount leak on probe failure

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 2% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 98.0% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: caiaq: fix usb_dev refcount leak on probe failure create_card() takes a reference on the USB device with usb_get_dev() and stores the matching usb_put_dev() in card_free(), which is installed as the snd_card's ->private_free destructor. However, ->private_free is only assigned near the end of init_card(), after several failure points (usb_set_interface(), EP type checks, usb_submit_urb(), the EP1_CMD_GET_DEVICE_INFO exchange, and its timeout). When any of those fail, init_card() returns an error to snd_probe(), which calls snd_card_free(card). Because ->private_free is still NULL, card_free() never runs, the usb_get_dev() reference is not dropped, and the struct usb_device leaks along with its descriptor allocations and device_private. syzbot reproduces this with a malformed UAC3 device whose only valid altsetting is 0; init_card()'s usb_set_interface(usb_dev, 0, 1) call fails with -EIO and triggers the leak. Move the ->private_free assignment into create_card(), immediately after usb_get_dev(), so that every error path reaching snd_card_free() balances the reference. card_free()'s callees (snd_usb_caiaq_input_free, free_urbs, kfree) already tolerate the partially-initialized state because the chip private area is zero-initialized by snd_card_new().

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:13linux6.12.86-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46048
Debian:14linux7.0.4-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSlinux-oem-7.07.0.0-1008.8UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 493b3a682ededc804555755f5d2193201339612d – before c874db8a1d2f9f08161470d00cfe8db2f5cca2ccdbcf7588e8dea017ddb3f18ec2766f7d2e5f2a0e – before 6fa8dff64fb6c401ced40a05797b327659317498ac7345f68cda6989016d85d63f7b244c064aa8f6 – before a8d907acc3e5a078c2e5637ff60c30c6d2ddc23af6634af5de728a46792f674a66d7843570cb68f7 – before 50c6a1f05973f56d23280c9d7645a7a5734e09071d9be95aee6c6246a21752e60c9519902649f482 – before da3b8fd6a202d94fef11a443abc9171c52426a1c6473ed16df1fe88051140611b3eb9a49be7f429e – before 6153878c5255bb69b7d0868105ca078ef13cbcf859b622a043cffc58b7638cd85ae6c30a0904f8e6 – before 21ca595aafa40d3ac70eab1f4cb62cc00ca2165780bb50e2d459213cccff3111d5ef98ed4238c0d5 – before 7a5f1cd22d47f8ca4b760b6334378ae42c1bd24b
Linux Linux 6.6.136 – before 6.6.1406.12.84 – before 6.12.866.18.25 – before 6.18.277.0.2 – before 7.0.4

References