High severity · published Aug 12, 2026
CVE-2026-53996
NetBSD hdaudio(4) Driver Privilege Bypass Use-After-Free via HDAUDIO_FGRP_SETCONFIG ioctl
7.0
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
NetBSD's hdaudio(4) driver in sys/dev/hdaudio/hdaudio.c contains a missing access control vulnerability that allows unprivileged local attackers to invoke the HDAUDIO_FGRP_SETCONFIG ioctl without elevated permissions by exploiting the absence of an access check on /dev/hdaudioN device nodes. Attackers can repeatedly issue HDAUDIO_FGRP_SETCONFIG from one thread while keeping DMA and IRQs live from a second thread to trigger a use-after-free race condition in hdafg_detach() between stream_stop() and stream_disestablish(), where a latched DMA interrupt dereferences a freed callback pointer, resulting in outcomes ranging from audio-subsystem denial of service and kernel panic to potential local kernel privilege escalation.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 2% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NE
NetBSD · The NetBSD Foundation
through 11 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53996
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53996
cvsweb.netbsd.org
https://cvsweb.NetBSD.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/hdaudio/hdaudio.c
gist.github.com
https://gist.github.com/n4sm/c9683ca728ecfada6c726f2a5afb50ed
gnats.netbsd.org
https://gnats.netbsd.org/60492
www.vulncheck.com
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/netbsd-hdaudio-4-driver-privilege-bypass-use-after-free-via-hdaudio-fgrp-setconfig-ioctl
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