Linux kernel AppArmor recursive profile removal stack exhaustion
CVE-2026-23404 is a local denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel AppArmor subsystem. The flaw is in the profile removal logic for nested AppArmor profiles: removing an ancestor profile causes recursive traversal and deletion of descendant profiles via __remove_profile() and __aa_profile_list_release(). If an attacker creates a deeply nested hierarchy of subprofiles and then removes the top-level profile, the recursive call chain can exhaust the kernel stack and crash the system. The upstream fix replaces the recursive removal logic with an iterative approach in __remove_profile() that repeatedly removes leaf profiles until the subtree is fully deleted, preserving semantics while avoiding unbounded recursion.
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
4 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.