CVE-2026-56109
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 · uneditedThe Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) library before 1.2.16.1 contains a double-free vulnerability in parse_def() in src/conf.c that allows attackers to corrupt memory by supplying maliciously crafted ALSA configuration text. When parsing nested compound or array configuration blocks, parse_def() fails to check return values before continuing, causing snd_config_delete() to be called twice on the same already-freed node, resulting in a NULL-pointer write or invalid memory read.
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 analysisThe same block of memory is freed twice, corrupting the allocator's bookkeeping in ways an attacker can shape toward code execution. It usually stems from tangled ownership of a pointer. The fix is clear, single ownership of each allocation and clearing pointers once they are freed.
General guidance for the double free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 · scopedUpgrade to alsa-lib version 1.2.16.1 or later
- 1. Identify the current version of alsa-lib installed on the system using the package manager or by checking the library version.
- 2. Upgrade alsa-lib to version 1.2.16.1 or later, which contains the fix for the double-free vulnerability in parse_def().
- 3. On Debian/Ubuntu-based systems, run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libasound2 (or libasound2-dev for development libraries).
- 4. On Red Hat/CentOS-based systems, run: sudo yum update alsa-lib or sudo dnf update alsa-lib.
- 5. For source-based installations, download alsa-lib version 1.2.16.1 or later from the official ALSA project repository and rebuild.
- 6. After upgrading, restart any applications that use ALSA to ensure they load the updated library.
- 7. Verify the fix by checking the library version matches or exceeds 1.2.16.1.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-56109 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-56109 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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