[CVE-2026-98817][LOW] ASoC: SDCA: Add better pm_runtime error handling in func probe [ Upstream

[CVE-2026-98817][LOW] ASoC: SDCA: Add better pm_runtime error handling in func probe [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL]

CVE: CVE-2026-98817
Priority: LOW
AL-KERNEL base severity: LOW
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: ASoC: SDCA: Add better pm_runtime error handling in func probe [ Upstream
Commit: 1f90c62a2412b3b9af27e0d23e346efcf88d83bd
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=1f90c62a2412b3b9af27e0d23e346efcf88d83bd
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98817
Analysis date: Mon, 19 Oct 2026 04:01:17 -0400
ActionableScore: 1
ActionableScore lower bound: unknown
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO

Summary:
The ASoC SDCA probe error paths can retain an unbalanced runtime PM reference and leave the device active, but no memory corruption, authorization bypass, network trigger, or host-wide denial of service is established.

======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98817 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98817

The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.

The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.

Published priority for this report: LOW
Manual review required: NO

A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.

======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================

CVE-2026-98817	LOW	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-98817 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW | AEGIS IMPACT LOW AEGIS_AS=1 LEGACY=LOW RESULT=SAME (final reconciliation agrees; DECISION: both LOW)	Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';*CWE-772;CWE-404;CWE-459;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '2.5';DESCR 'The ASoC SDCA class function probe can return through several error paths without releasing a runtime PM reference acquired for the device. This may leave the device active after a failed probe, retain an incorrect PM usage count, increase power consumption, or interfere with runtime suspend. For the CVSS the PR:L value is used for the paranoid score because a reduced capability service account may control driver binding or device reprobe in some deployments. Reliable triggering still requires a probe failure in devm_pm_runtime_enable, class_function_boot, or component registration, so AC:H is appropriate. The issue is not network reachable. The demonstrated primitive is persistent runtime PM resource retention with availability impact only, and there is no supported UAF, OOB access, information leak, or memory corruption path. Automated impact decision path. The original SimpleNet classifier selected LOW. The primary LLM estimated paranoid CVSS 2.5 and the production ActionableScore returned 1 with recommendation Ordinary Moderate. The production rules then evaluated CVSS thresholds and ActionableScore thresholds. No severity changing production threshold or specialist override was recorded. The legacy KP specialist has no review artifact for this run. The legacy FD or DH downgrade specialist has no review artifact for this run. The independent weaker Aegis shadow evaluated CVSS 1.6 and ActionableScore 1 with primitive class CLASS_C and manual review NO. Its independently reconciled impact was LOW. The shadow agreed with the final production impact and aggregation did not change that impact. The final reported impact is LOW.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1)	MAYBE	SIMPLEFIX ERRORPATH HARDWARE 	-	-	checked

======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=NO
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
RequiresHostUID0=UNKNOWN
AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO
ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE
B4PendingReview=NO
B4PendingConfirmed=NO

## 1. ActionableScore

* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1
* Raw paranoid score: 1
* Paranoid score: 1
* No floor or cap was applied.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::

## 2. Signal breakdown

Positive signals:

* +1 Concrete persistent kernel resource or reference leak. The failed probe paths omit the `pm_runtime_put_sync()` needed to balance the runtime PM reference, potentially leaving the device active with an incorrect PM usage count.

Negative signals:

* No negative points applied. Host-administrator control, unusual hardware, and difficult attacker-controlled triggering are not sufficiently established to justify penalties.

Material non-awarded signals:

* No UAF, OOB access, heap corruption, repeated release, or stale-object use is established.
* No reliable kernel crash or host-wide resource exhaustion is demonstrated.
* No attacker-controlled retry or repeatable accumulation mechanism is shown.
* No confidentiality, integrity, authorization, or security-boundary impact is established.
* NEW52 B5-R does not apply because there is no OOB write, accumulating index, or subsequent consumption of corrupted structured state.
* NEW53 B3-PENDING does not apply because no shared-backing write exists.
* V33 and V32 do not apply because there is no attacker-influenced active structured corruption or checksum metadata write.
* B4-PENDING does not apply because no authorization guard changes from DENY to ALLOW.

## 3. Reachability analysis

The device core invokes `class_function_probe()` while binding an SDCA auxiliary device. The affected exits require failure in `devm_pm_runtime_enable()`, `class_function_boot()`, or ASoC component registration.

The supplied evidence does not establish an ordinary-user, delegated-service, namespace, or network interface that can reliably force these failures. Driver binding or reprobe may be administratively controlled in some systems, but the complete trigger privilege is unresolved, so `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN` rather than YES or NO.

The operation is tied to a physical SDCA audio device and kernel device probing, not to a user or network namespace. There is no race. Repeated reference accumulation and host-wide exhaustion are not demonstrated.

## 4. Primitive and severity interpretation

The exact defect is an unbalanced runtime PM reference on probe failure. It is a resource-management and passive bookkeeping error, classified as `CLASS_C`.

There is no freed object, dangling pointer, second lifetime mutation, or active structured object corruption. The demonstrated consequences are an incorrect PM usage count, failure to runtime-suspend the device, and potentially increased power consumption. A system-wide availability failure remains unsupported.

`ImportantCandidate=NO` because no memory-corruption, authorization, ownership, or cross-boundary primitive exists. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because the established effect is a constrained resource-retention issue without meaningful unresolved exploitation leverage.

## 5. One-sentence report phrase

The ASoC SDCA probe error paths can retain an unbalanced runtime PM reference and leave the device active, but no memory corruption, authorization bypass, network trigger, or host-wide denial of service is established.

## 6. Manual review recommendation

NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED

The patch establishes only a constrained runtime PM reference imbalance, with no supported attacker-controlled accumulation, kernel corruption, or security-boundary consequence.

## 7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: medium

======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: ASoC: SDCA: Add better pm_runtime error handling in func probe [ Upstream
Commit: 1f90c62a2412b3b9af27e0d23e346efcf88d83bd
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=1f90c62a2412b3b9af27e0d23e346efcf88d83bd

Changed files:
  sound/soc/sdca/sdca_class_function.c

Diff excerpt:

Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.

Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=1f90c62a2412b3b9af27e0d23e346efcf88d83bd

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-98817 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-98817

The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.

The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.

The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.

Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:

  Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 2.5

The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.

CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.

A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.

  Conservative ActionableScore: unknown
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 1

The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.

For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:

  ActionableScore below 5   -> MODERATE REGULAR
  ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0

The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.

There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).

KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.

AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: LOW
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): LOW

These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).

Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).