Impact
A race condition exists in the ALSA PCM interface of the Linux kernel where concurrent memory-mapped operations can interleave with buffer deallocation. During this race a page that has been freed is still mapped as writable, creating a page-level use‑after‑free. An attacker can exploit this stale writable mapping to execute arbitrary code or modify system memory, thereby achieving local privilege escalation.
Affected Systems
All Linux kernel versions lacking the ALSA PCM mmap page‑UAF fix, regardless of vendor. The vulnerability is present in the kernel’s ALSA subsystem and applies to any system that allows a process to perform PCM mmap operations. No product or version exclusions are listed; users should consult kernel release notes for the commit that introduced the fix.
Risk and Exploitability
The vulnerability permits local exploitation only; a privileged user or a process that can invoke PCM mmap can race with the buffer free routine. No EPSS score is available and the issue is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, suggesting a low to moderate likelihood of widespread exploitation. For systems that remain at risk, the high potential for local privilege escalation means that the CVSS impact should be viewed as high, and any kernel update that patches the race should be prioritized.
OpenCVE Enrichment