CVE-2026-45848 apparmor: fix NULL sock in aa_sock_file_perm

What is CVE-2026-45848?

CVE-2026-45848 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 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 NULL sock in aa_sock_file_perm

Deal with the potential that sock and sock-sk can be NULL during socket setup or teardown. This could lead to an oops. The fix for NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation shows this is at least possible for af_unix sockets. While the fix for af_unix sockets applies for newer mediation this is still the fall back path for older af_unix mediation and other sockets, so ensure it is covered.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45848?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-45848?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-45848 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45848 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-45848, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45848, GHSA-8jqg-g4wj-938g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-45848, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-45848, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45848 and 1 more.