[PATCH] ALSA: seq: Remove arbitrary prioq insertion limit

From: Cássio Gabriel

Date: Mon May 25 2026 - 10:20:40 EST


The sequencer priority queue insertion path uses a hardcoded traversal
limit of 10000 entries. The value is intended to catch a corrupted list,
but it also becomes a real limit for valid queues.

The event pool limit is per client, while a sequencer queue can be shared
by multiple clients. A queue can therefore legitimately contain more than
10000 events. In that case, inserting an event that has to be placed past
the arbitrary limit fails with -EINVAL.

Use the queue's own cell count as the traversal bound instead. This keeps
the protection against inconsistent list accounting or cyclic lists without
rejecting valid large queues.

Signed-off-by: Cássio Gabriel <cassiogabrielcontato@xxxxxxxxx>
---
sound/core/seq/seq_prioq.c | 14 ++++++++------
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sound/core/seq/seq_prioq.c b/sound/core/seq/seq_prioq.c
index 25c0ed8f9f0f..d5bad1c585f6 100644
--- a/sound/core/seq/seq_prioq.c
+++ b/sound/core/seq/seq_prioq.c
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ int snd_seq_prioq_cell_in(struct snd_seq_prioq * f,
struct snd_seq_event_cell * cell)
{
struct snd_seq_event_cell *cur, *prev;
- int count;
+ int remaining;
int prior;

if (snd_BUG_ON(!f || !cell))
@@ -162,10 +162,16 @@ int snd_seq_prioq_cell_in(struct snd_seq_prioq * f,
prev = NULL; /* previous cell */
cur = f->head; /* cursor */

- count = 10000; /* FIXME: enough big, isn't it? */
+ remaining = f->cells;
while (cur != NULL) {
/* compare timestamps */
int rel = compare_timestamp_rel(&cell->event, &cur->event);
+
+ if (remaining-- <= 0) {
+ pr_err("ALSA: seq: inconsistent prioq cell count\n");
+ return -EINVAL;
+ }
+
if (rel < 0)
/* new cell has earlier schedule time, */
break;
@@ -176,10 +182,6 @@ int snd_seq_prioq_cell_in(struct snd_seq_prioq * f,
/* move cursor to next cell */
prev = cur;
cur = cur->next;
- if (! --count) {
- pr_err("ALSA: seq: cannot find a pointer.. infinite loop?\n");
- return -EINVAL;
- }
}

/* insert it before cursor */

---
base-commit: fa16304d1c5086bb8b537dd05d36ea68032228c7
change-id: 20260518-alsa-seq-prioq-limit-a3734e5f0a4b

Best regards,
--
Cássio Gabriel <cassiogabrielcontato@xxxxxxxxx>