The vulnerability is a use‑after‑free error in the Linux ALSA OSS subsystem. When a user writes to the oss proc interface, a new setup entry is linked into a global list before the task name is duplicated. If that allocation fails, the entry is freed while still referenced by the list, leaving a dangling pointer. A subsequent OSS device open can walk the stale list and dereference the freed memory, causing a kernel crash. Based on the nature of the flaw, such a crash could in turn provide a local attacker a path to higher privileges, but that outcome is inferred from generic use‑after‑free behavior, not explicitly stated in the CVE description.

All Linux kernel images that include the ALSA OSS interface and do not contain the commit that applies the fix. No explicit version range is supplied, so systems running any kernel prior to the adjustment are potentially affected.

The CVSS score of 7.0 indicates a high severity kernel flaw. The EPSS score of less than 1% signals a very low likelihood that this vulnerability is being actively exploited. The flaw is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. The attack requires local access to write to the OSS proc interface; thus it is strictly a local attack vector. If successfully exploited, it can result in a kernel crash and, as noted, could lead to privilege escalation, although this is inferred rather than directly documented.