ALSA: pcm: oss: Limit the period size to 16MB

Kernel Updated 02 Oct 2025

Summary

19/12/2021

Disclosed on

N/A

Severity

No i

Fix available

Unrated

Severity

Not published

CVSS Score

GSD-2021-1002460: ALSA: pcm: oss: Limit the period size to 16MB. Affects Kernel versions < 76f19e4cbb548e28547f8c328aa0bfb3a10222d3. No fix is published. How to fix ↓

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Background

The ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) is a software framework and part of the Linux kernel that provides an API for sound card drivers. It allows applications to communicate with the sound card hardware and provides features such as audio playback, recording, and mixing. The PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) subsystem within ALSA handles digital audio data and provides an interface for applications to access and manipulate audio streams. The OSS (Open Sound System) is a deprecated audio API for Unix-like operating systems, including Linux. It provides compatibility with older applications that use the OSS API. The vulnerability in the ALSA pcm oss driver allows for an excessively large period size, which can lead to memory corruption and potential security issues.

Vulnerability Detail

The vulnerability in the ALSA pcm oss driver allows for an excessively large period size, which can lead to memory corruption. By specifying a large period size, an attacker could potentially overwrite adjacent memory regions, leading to a variety of security issues such as privilege escalation, information disclosure, or denial of service. The impact and attack plausibility of this vulnerability have not been proven, but it is considered a potential security risk.

How To Fix

No fixed version is published for this vulnerability.

The vulnerability has been fixed in Linux Kernel version v5.4.165 by commit 76f19e4cbb548e28547f8c328aa0bfb3a10222d3. To fix the vulnerability, users should update their Linux kernel to version v5.4.165 or later. This can be done by downloading the updated kernel source code from the official Linux kernel repository (https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/) and compiling it for their specific system. Alternatively, users can wait for their Linux distribution to provide an updated kernel package and install it through the package manager.

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Workaround

There is no specific workaround mentioned for this vulnerability.

Conclusion

The ALSA pcm oss driver vulnerability allows for an excessively large period size, which can lead to memory corruption and potential security issues. It is recommended to update the Linux kernel to version v5.4.165 or later to mitigate this vulnerability. For further support on vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.

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