# CVE-2026-80716: ALSA: pcm: wake linked drain waiters on unlink

> A use-after-free in the Linux kernel ALSA PCM subsystem allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via race conditions during stream unlinking.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 28 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-98171, BELL-CVE-2026-80716, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80716, GHSA-j63j-489f-v3q9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80716

## What is CVE-2026-80716?

CVE-2026-80716 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 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:

ALSA: pcm: wake linked drain waiters on unlink

snd_pcm_drain() on a linked stream parks an on-stack wait entry on the
drained peer's runtime->sleep, and after schedule_timeout() removes it
only if that peer is still found in the caller's group.  If group
membership changes during the wait and the sleep ends by signal or
timeout (so autoremove_wake_function() does not run), finish_wait() is
skipped and snd_pcm_drain() returns with the entry still queued on that
stream's sleep list; a later wake_up() then walks a freed stack frame.
This is reachable by unlinking either the drained or the draining stream.

Unlike the close path (snd_pcm_drop() -> snd_pcm_post_stop()),
snd_pcm_unlink() never wakes the sleep queues.  Wake every group member
under the group lock before the membership change, so a linked drainer is
released and drops its entry while the streams are still grouped.

The window was opened when snd_pcm_link_rwsem stopped being held across
the wait and the removal became conditional on group membership (see
Fixes). The later switch to finish_wait() kept that conditional removal,
so the signal/timeout case remained.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80716?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80716?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80716 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80716 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80716 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80716 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 28 Aug 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-2026-80716 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-80716/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80716/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80716
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80716
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80716

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80716/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.