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CVE-2026-74278
ALSA: seq: Fix kernel heap address leak in bounce_error_event()
Overview
Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: seq: Fix kernel heap address leak in bounce_error_event() The comment above bounce_error_event() documents that user clients should receive SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_BOUNCE with the original event embedded as variable-length data, while kernel clients should receive SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR with a quoted kernel pointer. However, the implementation unconditionally uses SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR with data.quote.event set to the raw struct snd_seq_event pointer for all clients. When a bounce error event is delivered to a USER_CLIENT via snd_seq_read(), the kernel heap address in data.quote.event is exposed to userspace through copy_to_user() in the fixed-length branch. This is a distinct leak path from the one addressed by commit 705dd6dcbc0e ("ALSA: seq: Clear variable event pointer on read"), which sanitizes data.ext.ptr in the variable-length branch of snd_seq_read(). The bounce_error_event() leak uses fixed-length events that take the else branch where no sanitization occurs. Differentiate the bounce event by client type. For USER_CLIENT, send SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_BOUNCE with SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_LENGTH_VARIABLE and data.ext pointing to the original event. The variable-length path in snd_seq_event_dup() copies the event data into chained cells, and snd_seq_expand_var_event() copies only the content -- never the pointer -- to userspace. For KERNEL_CLIENT, keep the existing SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR behavior with the quoted pointer.

Details
INFO

Published Date :

Aug. 15, 2026, 6:22 a.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 17, 2026, 6:19 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Impact
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-74278 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Linux linux_kernel
: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 1
Solution
Patch the Linux kernel to prevent kernel heap address leaks in the ALSA sequencer.
  • Apply the kernel patch for ALSA sequencer.
  • Ensure kernel clients receive kernel error events.
  • Ensure user clients receive bounce events.
  • Verify event data is copied correctly.
References
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2026-74278.

URL Resource
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0527a56cb327021cb73167cfddf0e49efa043500
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93d260ce43a81df579c98bee92b91316df9c1c57
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dae23c545eb5a2be3b27a82fd0f611894fb8ab69
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efc86691e4d8083d9e380ea95042c2cf679f65fd
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-74278 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-74278 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-74278 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-74278 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 17, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '93d260ce43a81df579c98bee92b91316df9c1c57', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'dae23c545eb5a2be3b27a82fd0f611894fb8ab69', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '0527a56cb327021cb73167cfddf0e49efa043500', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'efc86691e4d8083d9e380ea95042c2cf679f65fd', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.6.12'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '2.6.12', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '93d260ce43a81df579c98bee92b91316df9c1c57', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'dae23c545eb5a2be3b27a82fd0f611894fb8ab69', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '0527a56cb327021cb73167cfddf0e49efa043500', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'efc86691e4d8083d9e380ea95042c2cf679f65fd', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.6.12'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '2.6.12', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
  • New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    Aug. 15, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '93d260ce43a81df579c98bee92b91316df9c1c57', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'dae23c545eb5a2be3b27a82fd0f611894fb8ab69', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': '0527a56cb327021cb73167cfddf0e49efa043500', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2', 'lessThan': 'efc86691e4d8083d9e380ea95042c2cf679f65fd', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.6.12'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '2.6.12', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['sound/core/seq/seq_clientmgr.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}]
    Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: seq: Fix kernel heap address leak in bounce_error_event() The comment above bounce_error_event() documents that user clients should receive SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_BOUNCE with the original event embedded as variable-length data, while kernel clients should receive SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR with a quoted kernel pointer. However, the implementation unconditionally uses SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR with data.quote.event set to the raw struct snd_seq_event pointer for all clients. When a bounce error event is delivered to a USER_CLIENT via snd_seq_read(), the kernel heap address in data.quote.event is exposed to userspace through copy_to_user() in the fixed-length branch. This is a distinct leak path from the one addressed by commit 705dd6dcbc0e ("ALSA: seq: Clear variable event pointer on read"), which sanitizes data.ext.ptr in the variable-length branch of snd_seq_read(). The bounce_error_event() leak uses fixed-length events that take the else branch where no sanitization occurs. Differentiate the bounce event by client type. For USER_CLIENT, send SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_BOUNCE with SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_LENGTH_VARIABLE and data.ext pointing to the original event. The variable-length path in snd_seq_event_dup() copies the event data into chained cells, and snd_seq_expand_var_event() copies only the content -- never the pointer -- to userspace. For KERNEL_CLIENT, keep the existing SNDRV_SEQ_EVENT_KERNEL_ERROR behavior with the quoted pointer.
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0527a56cb327021cb73167cfddf0e49efa043500
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/93d260ce43a81df579c98bee92b91316df9c1c57
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dae23c545eb5a2be3b27a82fd0f611894fb8ab69
    Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/efc86691e4d8083d9e380ea95042c2cf679f65fd
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CVSS
Vulnerability Scoring Details
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