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From: GitHub issues - opened <github@alsa-project.org>
To: alsa-devel@alsa-project.org
Subject: pcm_multi accepts sparse/unbound bindings and aborts via assertion
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:21:43 +0200 (CEST)	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <18d45a8939a95000-webhooks-bot@alsa-project.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <18d45a893983c000-webhooks-bot@alsa-project.org>

alsa-project/alsa-lib issue #523 was opened from HarshRajSinghania:

### Summary

The `multi` PCM configuration parser can leave intermediate binding slots unbound (`slave_idx == -1`), but `snd_pcm_multi_open()` evaluates `schannels[i] < schannels_count[sidxs[i]]` before checking whether `sidxs[i]` is negative. A sparse binding therefore indexes `schannels_count[-1]` and, in builds with assertions enabled, aborts the process.

### Reproducer

```
pcm.null { type null }
pcm.poc {
    type multi
    slaves.a.pcm "null"
    slaves.a.channels 2
    bindings.0.slave a
    bindings.0.channel 0
    bindings.5000.slave a
    bindings.5000.channel 1
}
```

Opening `poc` with alsa-lib 1.2.14 reaches `snd_pcm_multi_open()` and terminates with:

```
pcm_multi.c:1125: snd_pcm_multi_open: Assertion `schannels[i] < schannels_count[sidxs[i]]' failed.
Aborted
```

The configuration documentation explicitly permits binding entries indexed by `N`, so sparse binding indices are representable configuration input.

### Suggested fix

Treat an unbound slot as unbound before indexing `schannels_count`, and return `-EINVAL` for an invalid slave index/channel instead of relying on assertions.

I have a patch prepared that makes these checks explicit and avoids the negative-index access/assertion abort.

Reported by Harsh Raj Singhania.

Issue URL     : https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-lib/issues/523
Repository URL: https://github.com/alsa-project/alsa-lib

           reply	other threads:[~2026-09-11 19:22 UTC|newest]

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