CVE-2026-45966

Summary

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.

Affected Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
LinuxLinux88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 < fea017a7f6abe179decf575a2d8464c74edb3964affected
LinuxLinux88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 < e85bc9101afc4202aa2269967ce9d3ffbecd0994affected
LinuxLinux88fec3526e84123997ecebd6bb6778eb4ce779b7 < e2938ad00b21340c0362562dfedd7cfec0554d67affected
LinuxLinux6.17affected
LinuxLinux0 < 6.17unaffected
LinuxLinux6.18.14 <= 6.18.*unaffected
LinuxLinux6.19.4 <= 6.19.*unaffected
LinuxLinux7.0 <= *unaffected

Weaknesses

References