CVE-2026-23268 json
apparmor: fix unprivileged local user can do privileged policy management
published 2026-03-18 7 mo ago modified 2026-08-05 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-12910
- cvss
- 7.8
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.1%
- EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 4%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
apparmor: fix unprivileged local user can do privileged policy management
An unprivileged local user can load, replace, and remove profiles by opening the apparmorfs interfaces, via a confused deputy attack, by passing the opened fd to a privileged process, and getting the privileged process to write to the interface.
This does require a privileged target that can be manipulated to do the write for the unprivileged process, but once such access is achieved full policy management is possible and all the possible implications that implies: removing confinement, DoS of system or target applications by denying all execution, by-passing the unprivileged user namespace restriction, to exploiting kernel bugs for a local privilege escalation.
The policy management interface can not have its permissions simply changed from 0666 to 0600 because non-root processes need to be able to load policy to different policy namespaces.
Instead ensure the task writing the interface has privileges that are a subset of the task that opened the interface. This is already done via policy for confined processes, but unconfined can delegate access to the opened fd, by-passing the usual policy check.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.169, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8, 7.0
- linux Debian 12 6.1.164-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.74-2
- linux Debian 14 6.19.6-2
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23268
- linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-173.183
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-106.106
- linux Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-19.19
- linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1103.110
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1050.53
- linux-aws Ubuntu 25.10 6.17.0-1009.9
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1103.112
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1052.55
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23268
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-default SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES 15 SP6-LTSS, SLE Live Patching 15 SP6 +1 more 6.4.0-150600.23.112.1
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
- kernel-obs-build SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.55.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:2195-1SUSE-SU-2026:2238-1SUSE-SU-2026:21834-1SUSE-SU-2026:1611-1SUSE-SU-2026:1613-1SUSE-SU-2026:1592-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a407a078cd41b5261b99d822af784bd9f136eb4d commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/4cafce4d6d0a66ec27e3af5637c11901d60189fa commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/33ee909702e047c94aaf41d4eea35626d509802c commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/17debf5586020790b5717f96e5e6a3ca5bb961ab commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fc63dd9170643d15c25681fca792539e23f4640 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b60b3f7a35c46b2e0ca934f9c988b8fca06d76c6 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b6a94eeca9c6c8f7c55ad44c62c98324f51ec596 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/6601e13e82841879406bf9f369032656f441a425 commit
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-23268 updated cvss 7.8
kernel: AppArmor: Local privilege escalation and denial of service via confused deputy attack
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/a407a078cd41b5261b99d822af784bd9f136eb4d
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/4cafce4d6d0a66ec27e3af5637c11901d60189fa
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/33ee909702e047c94aaf41d4eea35626d509802c
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/17debf5586020790b5717f96e5e6a3ca5bb961ab
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/0fc63dd9170643d15c25681fca792539e23f4640
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/b60b3f7a35c46b2e0ca934f9c988b8fca06d76c6
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/b6a94eeca9c6c8f7c55ad44c62c98324f51ec596
patch
-
git.kernel.org
/stable/c/6601e13e82841879406bf9f369032656f441a425
patch
-
qualys.com
/2026/03/10/crack-armor.txt
third-party-advisory
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-23268
- NVD CVE-2026-23268
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.