[PATCH v3] ALSA: core: Fix info read handling

From: Sreeraj S Kurup

Date: Mon Nov 09 2026 - 04:31:19 EST


snd_info_entry_read() may invoke driver read callbacks with a
zero-length read when the requested count is zero.

Some callbacks perform zero-sized allocations, such as
vmalloc(0), which can trigger warnings and cause the read to
fail with -ENOMEM.

Return immediately when count is zero to avoid invoking driver
callbacks unnecessarily.

Also, store the callback result in a separate ssize_t variable
instead of reusing the size_t variable. This makes the signedness
explicit and avoids the unnecessary cast when checking whether
to update the file position.

Update the file position only when the callback returns a
positive number of bytes.

Fixes: d97e1b78239c ("ALSA: info - Check file position validity in common layer")
Signed-off-by: Sreeraj S Kurup <sreekuttan2156239@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
- Add Fixes trailer for the commit that introduced the zero-length
read issue.
v2:
- Handle zero-length reads in snd_info_entry_read() by returning
early without invoking the driver callback.
- Clarify the commit message to describe the ssize_t change as a
signedness cleanup rather than claiming it fixes incorrectly
reported callback errors.

sound/core/info.c | 11 +++++++----
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sound/core/info.c b/sound/core/info.c
index c4d57d0809ad..42312136f76c 100644
--- a/sound/core/info.c
+++ b/sound/core/info.c
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ static ssize_t snd_info_entry_read(struct file *file, char __user *buffer,
struct snd_info_private_data *data = file->private_data;
struct snd_info_entry *entry = data->entry;
size_t size;
+ ssize_t ret;
loff_t pos;

pos = *offset;
@@ -151,13 +152,15 @@ static ssize_t snd_info_entry_read(struct file *file, char __user *buffer,
return -EIO;
if (pos >= entry->size)
return 0;
+ if (!count)
+ return 0;
size = entry->size - pos;
size = min(count, size);
- size = entry->c.ops->read(entry, data->file_private_data,
+ ret = entry->c.ops->read(entry, data->file_private_data,
file, buffer, size, pos);
- if ((ssize_t) size > 0)
- *offset = pos + size;
- return size;
+ if (ret > 0)
+ *offset = pos + ret;
+ return ret;
}

static ssize_t snd_info_entry_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buffer,
--
2.55.0