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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2026-72455: apparmor: fix uninitialised pointer passed to audit_log_untrustedstring()

HighCVSS 7.1 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 28/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.16% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: Linux Linux 2791dd42d41e38805572b12116f721c97c4fcc0c, 6.18.40, 6.20.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 2791dd42d41e38805572b12116f721c97c4fcc0c, 6.18.40, 6.20 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix uninitialised pointer passed to audit_log_untrustedstring() Commit 4a134723f9f1 ("apparmor: move check for aa_null file to cover all cases") intrdouced a small bug, where path_name() may pass a potentially uninitialized *name to aa_audit_file() if the path->dentry had been replaced with aa_null.dentry earlier on. This can lead to page fault like one observed on 7.0.2 openSUSE Tumbleweed kernel: [51692.242756] [ T24690] BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 0000000f00000003 [51692.242762] [ T24690] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode [51692.242763] [ T24690] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [51692.242765] [ T24690] PGD 0 P4D 0 [51692.242768] [ T24690] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI [51692.242772] [ T24690] CPU: 3 UID: 1020 PID: 24690 Comm: snap-confine Tainted: G O 7.0.2-1-default #1 PREEMPT(full) openSUSE Tumbleweed ab90b4c9940707f9cafa19bdad80b2cec52dbe51 [51692.242775] [ T24690] Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE [51692.242777] [ T24690] Hardware name: Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040Series)/FRANMDCP05, BIOS 03.18 01/08/2026 [51692.242778] [ T24690] RIP: 0010:strlen+0x4/0x30 [51692.242783] [ T24690] Code: f7 75 ec 31 c0 e9 17 9f 00 ff 48 89 f8 e9 0f 9f 00 ff 0f 1f 40 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 f3 0f 1e fa <80> 3f 00 74 18 48 89 f8 0f 1f 40 00 48 83 c0 01 80 38 00 75 f7 48 [51692.242785] [ T24690] RSP: 0018:ffffd015eb1e3608 EFLAGS: 00010282 [51692.242787] [ T24690] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff89796198a360 RCX: 0000000000000000 [51692.242788] [ T24690] RDX: 00000000000000d1 RSI: 0000000f00000003 RDI: 0000000f00000003 [51692.242790] [ T24690] RBP: ffffffffb7ede090 R08: 00000000000005f5 R09: 0000000000000000 [51692.242791] [ T24690] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffffd015eb1e3700 [51692.242792] [ T24690] R13: ffff8977a22bc380 R14: ffffffffb7ec5190 R15: ffff8977a0c8aa80 [51692.242794] [ T24690] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff897f640d8000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [51692.242796] [ T24690] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [51692.242797] [ T24690] CR2: 0000000f00000003 CR3: 00000006ad15f000 CR4: 0000000000f50ef0 [51692.242799] [ T24690] PKRU: 55555554 [51692.242800] [ T24690] Call Trace: [51692.242802] [ T24690] <TASK> [51692.242804] [ T24690] audit_log_untrustedstring+0x1d/0x40 [51692.242811] [ T24690] common_lsm_audit+0x71/0x1d0 [51692.242816] [ T24690] aa_audit+0x5a/0x170 [51692.242819] [ T24690] aa_audit_file+0x18a/0x1b0 [51692.242825] [ T24690] path_name+0xd2/0x100 [51692.242829] [ T24690] profile_path_perm.part.0+0x58/0xb0 [51692.242832] [ T24690] aa_path_perm+0xef/0x150 [51692.242837] [ T24690] apparmor_file_open+0x153/0x2e0 [51692.242840] [ T24690] security_file_open+0x46/0xd0 [51692.242844] [ T24690] do_dentry_open+0xe9/0x4d0 [51692.242848] [ T24690] vfs_open+0x30/0x100 While here, initialise variables which are passed down to path_name().

Published
Aug 15, 2026
Updated
Aug 17, 2026
EPSS
0.1% · 5th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

28

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
28 / 40 · 7.1 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.1%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · Linux
7.1
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Linux Linux

    • d276f52ecaf854e41549311e93802afea0abab5b, 7.0affected
    • b2a8011ae8749215f3939881239b454728a2d88b and later · before 2791dd42d41e38805572b12116f721c97c4fcc0caffected · git
    • 4a134723f9f1ad2f3621566259db673350d19cb1 and later · before a5c79d44ef19203bd7cf6f3de8ff088112ebff95affected · git
    • 4a134723f9f1ad2f3621566259db673350d19cb1 and later · before bcd1b34c21748531a3febaf7440632b89d8deab7affected · git
    • 6.18.14 and later · before 6.18.40affected · semver
    • 6.19.4 and later · before 6.20affected · semver
    • before 7.0not affected · semver
    • 6.18.40 and later · up to and including 6.18.*not affected · semver
    • 7.1.5 and later · up to and including 7.1.*not affected · semver
    • 7.2 and laternot affected · original_commit_for_fix

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:14linuxbefore 7.1.5-17.1.5-1

Same product

linux: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-74705udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74612veth: fix skb length accounting after XDP frag adjustment
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74475vxlan: use neigh_ha_snapshot() in route_shortcircuit()
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-72448Aug 15, 2026 · octeontx2-pf: Fix leak of SQ timestamp buffer on teardown
    0Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-72451Aug 15, 2026 · xfrm: Fix xfrm state cache insertion race
    39Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-72456Aug 15, 2026 · apparmor: release exe file resources on path failure
    0Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Linux Linux2791dd42d41e38805572b12116f721c97c4fcc0cVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6.18.40Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6.20Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxa5c79d44ef19203bd7cf6f3de8ff088112ebff95Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxbcd1b34c21748531a3febaf7440632b89d8deab7Vendor (CNA)
debian:linux7.1.5-1 · Debian:14Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records