CVE-2026-45966

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation

published May 27, 2026

CVSS
—
EPSS
0%
Percentile
4.8
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation

When receiving file descriptors via SCM_RIGHTS, both the socket pointer

and the socket's sk pointer can be NULL during socket setup or teardown,

causing NULL pointer dereferences in __unix_needs_revalidation().

This is a regression in AppArmor 5.0.0 (kernel 6.17+) where the new

__unix_needs_revalidation() function was added without proper NULL checks.

The crash manifests as:

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0x0000000000000018

RIP: aa_file_perm+0xb7/0x3b0 (or +0xbe/0x3b0, +0xc0/0x3e0)

Call Trace:

apparmor_file_receive+0x42/0x80

security_file_receive+0x2e/0x50

receive_fd+0x1d/0xf0

scm_detach_fds+0xad/0x1c0

The function dereferences sock->sk->sk_family without checking if either

sock or sock->sk is NULL first.

Add NULL checks for both sock and sock->sk before accessing sk_family.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS
Not scored
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00160 · 4.8th percentile
Published
2026-05-27T12:18Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 27 MAY 12:18Z
    apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation
    cvelistv5