CVE-2026-53065 is a Linux kernel bug in the ALSA System-on-Chip (ASoC) STI CPU DAI playback driver that can cause resource leaks when the driver is removed. Specifically, in sound/soc/sti/uniperif_player.c, the driver allocates regmap_field objects during player initialization using non-managed allocation (regmap_field_alloc()), and those objects are not freed later. The fix switches those allocations to managed lifetime allocation (devm_regmap_field_alloc()), tying the objects’ lifetime to the device (&pdev->dev).
The referenced patch applies to the STI “uniperif player” component (CPU DAI driver for playback) and changes the function uni_player_parse_dt_audio_glue(struct platform_device *pdev, ...) to allocate player->clk_sel and player->valid_sel with devm_regmap_field_alloc() instead of regmap_field_alloc().
Technical details: The root cause is that regmap_field objects allocated at “player init” are never freed, which can leak resources if the driver is removed. In the code path shown by the patch, uni_player_parse_dt_audio_glue() obtains a regmap and then allocates two regmap_field handles from regfield[0] and regfield[1]. Previously, it used:
- player->clk_sel = regmap_field_alloc(regmap, regfield[0]);
- player->valid_sel = regmap_field_alloc(regmap, regfield[1]);
The patch replaces both with managed allocations:
- player->clk_sel = devm_regmap_field_alloc(&pdev->dev, regmap, regfield[0]);
- player->valid_sel = devm_regmap_field_alloc(&pdev->dev, regmap, regfield[1]);
This ensures the allocated regmap_field objects are automatically released when the device is detached/removed, preventing the leak described in the commit message. No network-facing or user-controlled input is indicated in the provided references; the issue is lifecycle/resource management rather than a memory corruption or privilege boundary violation.
Impact: The described impact is resource leakage (e.g., leaked kernel objects/resources) when the STI ASoC driver is removed. The provided NVD data lists CVSS as N/A and severity as “unknown,” and the references do not provide an exploit scenario or measurable security impact such as RCE or privilege escalation. In practical terms, the blast radius is limited to systems that load/unload this STI ASoC driver (or otherwise trigger driver removal) and may experience increasing resource consumption over repeated remove/reprobe cycles. Based on the commit text alone, this is primarily a stability/robustness issue rather than a direct attacker-controlled vulnerability.
Mitigation: Apply the kernel patch that switches to managed regmap_field allocations in sound/soc/sti/uniperif_player.c. Concretely, ensure uni_player_parse_dt_audio_glue() uses devm_regmap_field_alloc(&pdev->dev, ...) for both player->clk_sel and player->valid_sel instead of regmap_field_alloc(...). The references show the upstream fix commit 1696fad8b259a2d46e51cd6e17e4bcdbe02279fa and stable backports including commits 002a5f925d42eca8ad547e55a4ae22714cfe9dec, 43b67761d486d719128e164536e58de5a81dff9b, 4b8dba4527727623a97948aff9f0969a14c203a9, and 7422a11a753daacbc2409513cf65e1de0d17c291, all implementing the same change.
Workaround (if patching is not immediately possible): avoid repeated driver removal/reprobe cycles for the affected STI ASoC playback driver, since the leak occurs when the driver is removed. Detection guidance is limited by the provided material; the most direct verification is to confirm the code uses devm_regmap_field_alloc() for the two regmap_field allocations in uni_player_parse_dt_audio_glue().
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-401