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Medium 5.5Published May 27, 2026

CVE-2026-45966apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation

Updated under an hour ago ()

Does this affect you?

It affects Linux and 1 other product. Add what you run to find out whether that includes you.

No exploitation reported and no EPSS estimate yet.

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.

CVSS
5.5 MEDIUM (v3.1, NVD)CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
Not given
Known exploited
Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)
Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by
Linux
NVD analysis
Analyzed
Record last updated
May 27, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals
Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products
Linux Linux
linux:linux (from the name)
from 88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 before fea017a7f6abe179decf575a2d8464c74edb3964; from 88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 before e85bc9101afc4202aa2269967ce9d3ffbecd0994; from 88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 before e2938ad00b21340c0362562dfedd7cfec0554d67
CNA record
linux linux_kernel
linux:linux_kernel
from 6.17 before 6.18.14; from 6.19 before 6.19.4
NVD

References

References

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

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