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