CVE-2026-72488 soundwire: fix bug in sdw_add_element_group_count found by syzkaller
An out-of-bounds memory access in the Linux kernel's soundwire subsystem allows attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute code.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-72488?
CVE-2026-72488 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:
soundwire: fix bug in sdw_add_element_group_count found by syzkaller
The original implementation caused an out-of-bounds memory access in the sdw_add_element_group_count for-loop when i == num.
for (i = 0; i <= num; i++) { if (rate == group->rates[i] && lane == group->lanes[i]) ...
To fix this error, the function now checks for existing rate/lane entries in the group(a function parameter) using a for-loop before adding them.
No functional changes apart from this fix.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72488?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72488?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-72488 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72488 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72488, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72488, GHSA-m46v-696m-pmpf, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72488.