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

> A refcount leak in the ALSA caiaq driver allows a local attacker to cause memory exhaustion and denial of service via a malformed USB device.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-88620, BELL-CVE-2026-46048, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46048, GHSA-r5hg-4g6p-vqwc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46048

## What is CVE-2026-46048?

CVE-2026-46048 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### 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().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46048?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46048?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46048 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46048 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-46048 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46048 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46048 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46048/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46048/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46048
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46048
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46048

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46048/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.