In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: hda: fix a possible null-pointer dereference due to data race in snd_hdac_regmap_sync() The variable codec->regmap is often protected by the lock codec->regmap_lock when is accessed. However, it is accessed without holding the lock when is accessed in snd_hdac_regmap_sync(): if (codec->regmap) In my opinion, this may be a harmful race, because if codec->regmap is set to NULL right after the condition is checked, a null-pointer dereference can occur in the called function regcache_sync(): map->lock(map->lock_arg); --> Line 360 in drivers/base/regmap/regcache.c To fix this possible null-pointer dereference caused by data race, the mutex_lock coverage is extended to protect the if statement as well as the function call to regcache_sync(). [ Note: the lack of the regmap_lock itself is harmless for the current codec driver implementations, as snd_hdac_regmap_sync() is only for PM runtime resume that is prohibited during the codec probe. But the change makes the whole code more consistent, so it's merged as is -- tiwai ]