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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-23208

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.188 / 4.19.132 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: usb-audio: Prevent excessive number of frames In this case, the user constructed the parameters with maxpacksize 40 for rate 22050 / pps 1000, and packsize[0] 22 packsize[1] 23. The buffer size for each data URB is maxpacksize * packets, which in this example is 40 * 6 = 240; When the user performs a write operation to send audio data into the ALSA PCM playback stream, the calculated number of frames is packsize[0] * packets = 264, which exceeds the allocated URB buffer size, triggering the out-of-bounds (OOB) issue reported by syzbot [1]. Added a check for the number of single data URB frames when calculating the number of frames to prevent [1]. [1] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in copy_to_urb+0x261/0x460 sound/usb/pcm.c:1487 Write of size 264 at addr ffff88804337e800 by task syz.0.17/5506 Call Trace: copy_to_urb+0x261/0x460 sound/usb/pcm.c:1487 prepare_playback_urb+0x953/0x13d0 sound/usb/pcm.c:1611 prepare_outbound_urb+0x377/0xc50 sound/usb/endpoint.c:333

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 4.14.186, < 4.14.188>= 4.19.130, < 4.19.132>= 5.4.49, < 5.4.51>= 5.7.6, < 5.7.8>= 5.8, < 6.18.10= 4.4.229= 4.9.229= 6.19

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.14.188 / 4.19.132 / 5.4.51 or later
Fixed in 4.14.1884.19.1325.4.51
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 4.14.188, 4.19.132, 5.4.51, or 5.7.8 (depending on your branch)

  1. Identify the currently running Linux kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which affected kernel branch your version belongs to (4.14.x, 4.19.x, 5.4.x, or 5.7.x)
  3. Update the system package repository metadata
  4. Upgrade the Linux kernel package to the fixed version for your branch
  5. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  6. Verify the new kernel version is running with `uname -r` and confirm it matches a fixed version (4.14.188, 4.19.132, 5.4.51, or 5.7.8)
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require rebooting production systems; verify hardware compatibility with the new kernel version before deploying

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-23208 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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