# CVE-2026-23410: apparmor: fix race on rawdata dereference

> A race condition in the Linux kernel AppArmor module allows attackers to trigger a use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 1 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-82034, BELL-CVE-2026-23410, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23410, GHSA-cgmp-3cx7-qfjw, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23410

## What is CVE-2026-23410?

CVE-2026-23410 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 2026. 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: fix race on rawdata dereference

There is a race condition that leads to a use-after-free situation:
because the rawdata inodes are not refcounted, an attacker can start
open()ing one of the rawdata files, and at the same time remove the
last reference to this rawdata (by removing the corresponding profile,
for example), which frees its struct aa_loaddata; as a result, when
seq_rawdata_open() is reached, i_private is a dangling pointer and
freed memory is accessed.

The rawdata inodes weren't refcounted to avoid a circular refcount and
were supposed to be held by the profile rawdata reference.  However
during profile removal there is a window where the vfs and profile
destruction race, resulting in the use after free.

Fix this by moving to a double refcount scheme. Where the profile
refcount on rawdata is used to break the circular dependency. Allowing
for freeing of the rawdata once all inode references to the rawdata
are put.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23410?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23410?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23410 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23410 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-2026-23410 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23410 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 Apr 2026. 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-2026-23410 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-2026-23410/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23410/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23410
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23410
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23410

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23410/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.