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High

Use-after-free in Linux kernel ALSA OSS mixer disconnect handling

IdentifiersCVE-2026-43126CWE-416

CVE-2026-43126 is a Linux kernel vulnerability in the ALSA OSS mixer layer. The issue arises because OSS mixer access paths invoke kcontrol operations individually, and pending calls may not always be caught when the underlying sound card is being disconnected. This creates a race window in which mixer-related code can continue operating on card-associated objects after teardown has begun, leading to a potential use-after-free condition. The upstream fix adds card-disconnection sanity checks at each OSS mixer access entry point and performs the check under rwsem protection so the remaining execution context is covered properly.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can trigger a kernel-space use-after-free during ALSA OSS mixer operations on a disconnecting device. Because the flaw is in kernel context, the resulting impact can include kernel memory corruption, system instability or crashes, and potentially compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Published CVSS assessments characterize the impact on C, I, and A as high.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by disabling or avoiding the ALSA OSS mixer compatibility layer where operationally feasible, and restrict local access to trusted users only, since the issue is locally exploitable. Minimize hot-unplug/device-disconnect scenarios involving affected audio devices on vulnerable systems until patched. These are only risk-reduction measures; the definitive mitigation is to deploy a fixed kernel.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply a kernel update that includes the upstream ALSA OSS mixer fix adding card disconnect checkpoints. Vendor-provided fixed packages are available across multiple SUSE product lines; examples in the provided content include kernel-default >= 5.14.21-150500.55.166.1 for SLES 15 SP5 lines, >= 6.4.0-150600.23.112.1 for SLES 15 SP6 lines, >= 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1 for SLES 15 SP7 lines, and >= 6.4.0-46.1 for SUSE Linux Micro 6.0/6.1. On affected systems, install the relevant vendor kernel update and reboot into the patched kernel.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
LinuxLinux Kerneloperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

5 sources tracked across advisories and community write-ups. News coverage will land here when it surfaces.

5 SOURCESView more in app

No news coverage yet. Advisories and community discussion only.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES
MITRE CVE
cve.org · CVE-2026-43126
NVD
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43126
MITRE CWE · CWE-416
cwe.mitre.org
Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/084d5d44418148662365eced3e126ad1a81ee3e2
Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c097cf736993454acf3f711a3b376d6c7ad8965
Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae583f113d15fa97e5234133c20d09f8e6214e47
Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/e6645e625480cdf1079a4265f758d13b70721029