# CVE-2026-53348: ASoC: SDCA: fix NULL pointer dereference in sdca_dev_unregister_functions

> A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux kernel SDCA audio driver causes a system crash during device cleanup, requiring a kernel patch.

- **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:** 1 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 1 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53348, GHSA-7gm6-6488-mq68, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53348

## What is CVE-2026-53348?

CVE-2026-53348 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Jul 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:

ASoC: SDCA: fix NULL pointer dereference in sdca_dev_unregister_functions

sdca_dev_unregister_functions() iterates over all SDCA function
descriptors and calls sdca_dev_unregister() on each func_dev without
checking for NULL. When a function registration has failed partway
through, or the device cleanup races with probe deferral, func_dev
entries may be NULL, leading to a kernel oops:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000040
  RIP: 0010:device_del+0x1e/0x3e0
  Call Trace:
   sdca_dev_unregister_functions+0x37/0x60 [snd_soc_sdca]
   release_nodes+0x35/0xb0
   devres_release_all+0x90/0x100
   device_unbind_cleanup+0xe/0x80
   device_release_driver_internal+0x1c1/0x200
   bus_remove_device+0xc6/0x130
   device_del+0x161/0x3e0
   device_unregister+0x17/0x60
   sdw_delete_slave+0xb6/0xd0 [soundwire_bus]
   sdw_bus_master_delete+0x1e/0x50 [soundwire_bus]
   ...
   sof_probe_work+0x19/0x30 [snd_sof]

This was observed on a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G14 (Panther Lake)
with the SOF audio driver probe failing due to missing Panther Lake
firmware, causing the subsequent cleanup of SoundWire devices to
trigger the crash.

Fix this with three changes:

1) Add a NULL guard in sdca_dev_unregister() so that callers do not
   need to pre-validate the pointer (defense in depth).

2) In sdca_dev_unregister_functions(), skip NULL func_dev entries
   and clear func_dev to NULL after unregistration, making the
   function idempotent and safe against double-invocation.

3) In sdca_dev_register_functions(), roll back all previously
   registered functions when a later one fails, so the function
   array is never left in a partially-populated state.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53348?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53348?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53348 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53348 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-2026-53348 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53348 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Jul 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-2026-53348 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-2026-53348/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53348/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53348
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53348
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53348

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53348/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.