[PATCH] ALSA: core: Use flexible array for card private data

From: Cássio Gabriel

Date: Fri May 29 2026 - 10:20:39 EST


snd_card_new() and snd_devm_card_new() allocate struct snd_card
together with optional driver-private storage. The storage is currently
described only by open-coded sizeof(*card) + extra_size arithmetic, and
snd_card_init() reaches it by manually adding sizeof(struct snd_card) to
the card pointer.

Make the trailing storage explicit with a flexible array member and use
struct_size() for the allocation size. This documents the layout and
avoids open-coded variable-size object arithmetic.

Align the flexible array to unsigned long long so the driver-private area
does not become less aligned than the old sizeof(struct snd_card) tail
address on 32-bit ABIs.

Signed-off-by: Cássio Gabriel <cassiogabrielcontato@xxxxxxxxx>
---
include/sound/core.h | 2 ++
sound/core/init.c | 8 +++++---
2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/sound/core.h b/include/sound/core.h
index 4093ec82a0a1..4bb76c21c956 100644
--- a/include/sound/core.h
+++ b/include/sound/core.h
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ struct snd_card {
struct snd_mixer_oss *mixer_oss;
int mixer_oss_change_count;
#endif
+
+ unsigned char private_data_area[] __aligned(__alignof__(unsigned long long));
};

#define dev_to_snd_card(p) container_of(p, struct snd_card, card_dev)
diff --git a/sound/core/init.c b/sound/core/init.c
index 0c316189e947..98e702ffa856 100644
--- a/sound/core/init.c
+++ b/sound/core/init.c
@@ -181,7 +181,8 @@ int snd_card_new(struct device *parent, int idx, const char *xid,

if (extra_size < 0)
extra_size = 0;
- card = kzalloc(sizeof(*card) + extra_size, GFP_KERNEL);
+ card = kzalloc(struct_size(card, private_data_area, extra_size),
+ GFP_KERNEL);
if (!card)
return -ENOMEM;

@@ -232,7 +233,8 @@ int snd_devm_card_new(struct device *parent, int idx, const char *xid,
int err;

*card_ret = NULL;
- card = devres_alloc(__snd_card_release, sizeof(*card) + extra_size,
+ card = devres_alloc(__snd_card_release,
+ struct_size(card, private_data_area, extra_size),
GFP_KERNEL);
if (!card)
return -ENOMEM;
@@ -280,7 +282,7 @@ static int snd_card_init(struct snd_card *card, struct device *parent,
int err;

if (extra_size > 0)
- card->private_data = (char *)card + sizeof(struct snd_card);
+ card->private_data = card->private_data_area;
if (xid)
strscpy(card->id, xid, sizeof(card->id));
err = 0;

---
base-commit: c784d0e6a62abbd2af58bbbe2d20f88dd550e3eb
change-id: 20260526-alsa-card-private-flex-array-5f4dfbcbff23

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