CVE-2026-23406 | apparmor: fix side-effect bug in match_char() macro usage

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix side-effect bug in match_char() macro usage The match_char() macro evaluates its character parameter multiple times when traversing differential encoding chains. When invoked with *str++, the string pointer advances on each iteration of the inner do-while loop, causing the DFA to check different characters at each iteration and therefore skip input characters. This results in out-of-bounds reads when the pointer advances past the input buffer boundary. [ 94.984676] ================================================================== [ 94.985301] BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in aa_dfa_match+0x5ae/0x760 [ 94.985655] Read of size 1 at addr ffff888100342000 by task file/976 [ 94.986319] CPU: 7 UID: 1000 PID: 976 Comm: file Not tainted 6.19.0-rc7-next-20260127 #1 PREEMPT(lazy) [ 94.986322] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 94.986329] Call Trace: [ 94.986341] <TASK> [ 94.986347] dump_stack_lvl+0x5e/0x80 [ 94.986374] print_report+0xc8/0x270 [ 94.986384] ? aa_dfa_match+0x5ae/0x760 [ 94.986388] kasan_report+0x118/0x150 [ 94.986401] ? aa_dfa_match+0x5ae/0x760 [ 94.986405] aa_dfa_match+0x5ae/0x760 [ 94.986408] __aa_path_perm+0x131/0x400 [ 94.986418] aa_path_perm+0x219/0x2f0 [ 94.986424] apparmor_file_open+0x345/0x570 [ 94.986431] security_file_open+0x5c/0x140 [ 94.986442] do_dentry_open+0x2f6/0x1120 [ 94.986450] vfs_open+0x38/0x2b0 [ 94.986453] ? may_open+0x1e2/0x2b0 [ 94.986466] path_openat+0x231b/0x2b30 [ 94.986469] ? __x64_sys_openat+0xf8/0x130 [ 94.986477] do_file_open+0x19d/0x360 [ 94.986487] do_sys_openat2+0x98/0x100 [ 94.986491] __x64_sys_openat+0xf8/0x130 [ 94.986499] do_syscall_64+0x8e/0x660 [ 94.986515] ? count_memcg_events+0x15f/0x3c0 [ 94.986526] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 94.986540] ? handle_mm_fault+0x1639/0x1ef0 [ 94.986551] ? vma_start_read+0xf0/0x320 [ 94.986558] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 94.986561] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 94.986563] ? fpregs_assert_state_consistent+0x50/0xe0 [ 94.986572] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 94.986574] ? arch_exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x9/0xb0 [ 94.986587] ? srso_alias_return_thunk+0x5/0xfbef5 [ 94.986588] ? irqentry_exit+0x3c/0x590 [ 94.986595] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [ 94.986597] RIP: 0033:0x7fda4a79c3ea Fix by extracting the character value before invoking match_char, ensuring single evaluation per outer loop.

Published: 2026-04-01 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-23406 is rated Low Risk (34/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-23406

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.18% +0.16%
2 2026-04-01 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-23406

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-23406

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-23406

GHSA-56hx-r887-5w6h · Severity: high — In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix side-effect...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-23406

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-23406 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23406
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23406
suse medium CVE-2026-23406 severity moderate: SUSE including 40 source package names (apache2-mod_apparmor, apparmor, …), 410 product×package rows across 42 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, … (42 product lines)): Known Not Affected 410. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-23406/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-23406 medium priority: Ubuntu including 157 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1413 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1018, released 182, ignored 169, not-affected 34, needs-triage 5, needed 3, pending 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-23406

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-23406

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 4.17.1, < 5.10.253 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.11, < 5.15.203 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.16, < 6.1.169 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.2, < 6.6.130 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.7, < 6.12.77 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.13, < 6.18.18 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 6.19, < 6.19.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 4.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.17:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-23406

cvelogic Threat Intelligence