# CVE-2026-72457: apparmor: fail policy unpack on accept2 allocation failure

> A missing error check in AppArmor policy unpacking can lead to a null pointer dereference and system crash if memory allocation fails.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72457, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72457, GHSA-4vqv-ff48-xvv6, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72457

## What is CVE-2026-72457?

CVE-2026-72457 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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: fail policy unpack on accept2 allocation failure

unpack_pdb() may need to allocate a missing ACCEPT2 table for older policy
data. If that allocation failed, it set an error message but jumped to the
success path, returning a policydb with the required table missing.

Return -ENOMEM through the normal failure path when the ACCEPT2 allocation
fails. Remove the now-unused out label.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72457?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72457?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72457 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72457 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72457 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72457 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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-2026-72457 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72457/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72457/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72457
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72457
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72457

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72457/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.