Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-31701

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: caiaq: take a reference on the USB device in create_card() The caiaq driver stores a pointer to the parent USB device in cdev->chip.dev but never takes a reference on it. The card's private_free callback, snd_usb_caiaq_card_free(), can run asynchronously via snd_card_free_when_closed() after the USB device has already been disconnected and freed, so any access to cdev->chip.dev in that path dereferences a freed usb_device. On top of the refcounting issue, the current card_free implementation calls usb_reset_device(cdev->chip.dev). A reset in a free callback is inappropriate: the device is going away, the call takes the device lock in a teardown context, and the reset races with the disconnect path that the callback is already cleaning up after. Take a reference on the USB device in create_card() with usb_get_dev(), drop it with usb_put_dev() in the free callback, and remove the usb_reset_device() call.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (4.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 5th percentile — 4.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-31701: held from 0.001 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 6.12.84, a3f9314752dbb6f6aa1f0f2b4c58243bda800738, 7.1-rc1
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.13, 7.1

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31701?
CVE-2026-31701 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-05-01.
How severe is CVE-2026-31701?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.