The flaw is a null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel’s ASoC SOF Intel HDA driver (CWE‑476, CWE‑824). When the Digital Audio Interface (DAI) links defined in a machine driver do not match those used by the topology—particularly during loopback capture for echo reference—the code attempts to access a widget that may not be set. This causes a null pointer dereference in hda_dai_get_ops, leading to a kernel crash and a loss of system availability. The attack does not leak information but can cause severe disruption if exploited.

All Linux kernel releases that include the Intel SOF HDA driver without the patch from commit 10411f1f2c76be67103b1f95822ff629aa25e2aa. The vulnerability is present in kernel versions that provide the SOF audio driver for Intel hardware until the fix is applied. The specific audio subsystem is part of the ASoC architecture within the Linux kernel.

The CVSS score of 5.5 indicates moderate severity, and the EPSS score is < 1%, indicating a low but non‑zero exploitation probability. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, so exploitation likelihood is uncertain. However, the flaw can lead to a kernel crash. The likely attack vector, inferred from the description, is local or during system boot when the topology is initialized; an attacker who can influence the machine driver or topology configuration could trigger the crash, resulting in a denial of service. Because the code now returns an error instead of dereferencing a null pointer, the impact is mitigated only after the patch is deployed.