# CVE-2026-46254: AppArmor: Allow apparmor to handle unaligned dfa tables

> A missing alignment check in AppArmor DFA table handling causes kernel warnings and potential instability on architectures requiring strict alignment.

- **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:** 3 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-89342, BELL-CVE-2026-46254, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46254, GHSA-7rpr-5c67-jf73, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46254, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46254, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-46254, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46254

## What is CVE-2026-46254?

CVE-2026-46254 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jun 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: Allow apparmor to handle unaligned dfa tables

The dfa tables can originate from kernel or userspace and 8-byte alignment
isn't always guaranteed and as such may trigger unaligned memory accesses
on various architectures. Resulting in the following

[   73.901376] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 341 at security/apparmor/match.c:316 aa_dfa_unpack+0x6cc/0x720
[   74.015867] Modules linked in: binfmt_misc evdev flash sg drm drm_panel_orientation_quirks backlight i2c_core configfs nfnetlink autofs4 ext4 crc16 mbcache jbd2 hid_generic usbhid sr_mod hid cdrom
sd_mod ata_generic ohci_pci ehci_pci ehci_hcd ohci_hcd pata_ali libata sym53c8xx scsi_transport_spi tg3 scsi_mod usbcore libphy scsi_common mdio_bus usb_common
[   74.428977] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 341 Comm: apparmor_parser Not tainted 6.18.0-rc6+ #9 NONE
[   74.536543] Call Trace:
[   74.568561] [<0000000000434c24>] dump_stack+0x8/0x18
[   74.633757] [<0000000000476438>] __warn+0xd8/0x100
[   74.696664] [<00000000004296d4>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x34/0x74
[   74.771006] [<00000000008db28c>] aa_dfa_unpack+0x6cc/0x720
[   74.843062] [<00000000008e643c>] unpack_pdb+0xbc/0x7e0
[   74.910545] [<00000000008e7740>] unpack_profile+0xbe0/0x1300
[   74.984888] [<00000000008e82e0>] aa_unpack+0xe0/0x6a0
[   75.051226] [<00000000008e3ec4>] aa_replace_profiles+0x64/0x1160
[   75.130144] [<00000000008d4d90>] policy_update+0xf0/0x280
[   75.201057] [<00000000008d4fc8>] profile_replace+0xa8/0x100
[   75.274258] [<0000000000766bd0>] vfs_write+0x90/0x420
[   75.340594] [<00000000007670cc>] ksys_write+0x4c/0xe0
[   75.406932] [<0000000000767174>] sys_write+0x14/0x40
[   75.472126] [<0000000000406174>] linux_sparc_syscall+0x34/0x44
[   75.548802] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
[   75.609503] dfa blob stream 0xfff0000008926b96 not aligned.
[   75.682695] Kernel unaligned access at TPC[8db2a8] aa_dfa_unpack+0x6e8/0x720

Work around it by using the get_unaligned_xx() helpers.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46254?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46254?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46254 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46254 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-2026-46254 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46254 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jun 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-2026-46254 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-2026-46254/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46254/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46254
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46254
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46254

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46254/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.