apparmor: fix out-of-bounds write when null terminating a label vec
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix out-of-bounds write when null terminating a label vec aa_vec_unique() null terminates at vec[n - dups] when VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE is passed. If the components are all distinct no duplicates are dropped, dups is 0 and the terminator goes to vec[n], so the caller has to provide room for n + 1 entries. aa_label_strn_parse() sets up its vector with vec_setup(profile, vec, len, gfp) and then calls aa_vec_unique(vec, len, VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE), but vec_setup() does not reserve the terminator entry. Up to LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES it uses the local array of LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES pointers, above that it allocates exactly len pointers. The terminator therefore lands one entry past the end of the local array when len is LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES, and one entry past the end of the allocation when len is larger. len comes from the number of "//&" separated components in the label name and label_count_strn_entries() does not bound it. An unprivileged task reaches the parse by writing to /proc/self/attr/apparmor/current or through lsm_set_self_attr(2), both of which go through do_setattr(), and the name is parsed before the change_profile permission is checked. The query_label() path behind the securityfs .access file, which is mode 0666, performs no permission check at all. Every component has to resolve to a loaded profile, so a system with policy loaded is required. The other two VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE users work on a label vec that aa_label_alloc() has already sized with "+ 1 for null terminator entry on vec". Reserve the same entry in vec_setup() and DEFINE_VEC(). Passing len + 1 from the caller instead would move len == LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES out of the local array and into kzalloc().
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 7 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-89761
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-886p-2cc6-vc45
- 2026-10-16 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-16 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@b17c8f5dcb36a032688847b2bce4bd813b4baad1 · CNA
- 2026-10-21 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@0d4cb3af82556afc48f90fd3e8a126ff32343f41, Linux/Linux@40fdee1cb4f18e6a1a21a891ae4735bcd4d35026, Linux/[email protected] +3 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 3 new references · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d4cb3af82556afc48f90fd3e8a126ff32343f41
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40fdee1cb4f18e6a1a21a891ae4735bcd4d35026
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57bb24025f450728f342d8e08cd3909c89361d90
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b17c8f5dcb36a032688847b2bce4bd813b4baad1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9124e078ea2250d8d01d2162a550acb01ef5bf48
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/28069434aef66b9d084f0609b7a29c171846815e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/36bdd0b45ec3f4822832a56e9db8674c8450dfce
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f1e40193eef7f047e6b77cfb4b4cafdecd7a123
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Sources
- CVE-2026-89761 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-89761 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-886p-2cc6-vc45 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-89761 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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