# CVE-2023-52443: apparmor: avoid crash when parsed profile name is empty

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel AppArmor module allows a local attacker to cause a system crash by loading a malformed profile.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2023-52443, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52443, GHSA-3hp3-h35p-gqg4, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52443

## What is CVE-2023-52443?

CVE-2023-52443 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

apparmor: avoid crash when parsed profile name is empty

When processing a packed profile in unpack_profile() described like

 "profile :ns::samba-dcerpcd /usr/lib*/samba/{,samba/}samba-dcerpcd {...}"

a string ":samba-dcerpcd" is unpacked as a fully-qualified name and then
passed to aa_splitn_fqname().

aa_splitn_fqname() treats ":samba-dcerpcd" as only containing a namespace.
Thus it returns NULL for tmpname, meanwhile tmpns is non-NULL. Later
aa_alloc_profile() crashes as the new profile name is NULL now.

general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN NOPTI
KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 6 PID: 1657 Comm: apparmor_parser Not tainted 6.7.0-rc2-dirty #16
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.16.2-3-gd478f380-rebuilt.opensuse.org 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:strlen+0x1e/0xa0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ? strlen+0x1e/0xa0
 aa_policy_init+0x1bb/0x230
 aa_alloc_profile+0xb1/0x480
 unpack_profile+0x3bc/0x4960
 aa_unpack+0x309/0x15e0
 aa_replace_profiles+0x213/0x33c0
 policy_update+0x261/0x370
 profile_replace+0x20e/0x2a0
 vfs_write+0x2af/0xe00
 ksys_write+0x126/0x250
 do_syscall_64+0x46/0xf0
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0x76
 </TASK>
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
RIP: 0010:strlen+0x1e/0xa0

It seems such behaviour of aa_splitn_fqname() is expected and checked in
other places where it is called (e.g. aa_remove_profiles). Well, there
is an explicit comment "a ns name without a following profile is allowed"
inside.

AFAICS, nothing can prevent unpacked "name" to be in form like
":samba-dcerpcd" - it is passed from userspace.

Deny the whole profile set replacement in such case and inform user with
EPROTO and an explaining message.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org).

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52443?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-52443?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-52443 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52443 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-52443 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-52443 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52443 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52443/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52443/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52443
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52443
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-52443

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-52443/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.