Kernel crash via unaligned DFA table access
Published Jun 3, 2026 · Updated Jun 3, 2026
Denial of service in Linux kernel AppArmor allows local users to crash the kernel by loading an unaligned DFA policy table. The aa_dfa_unpack path in security/apparmor/match.c directly dereferences big-endian multibyte fields and array elements from a policy blob without alignment-safe access. The path is reachable when local users can load AppArmor policy; architectures that fault on unaligned access can interrupt the host, with no reported data exposure or modification.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Linux kernel AppArmor allows local users to crash the kernel by loading an unaligned DFA policy table. The aa_dfa_unpack path in security/apparmor/match.c directly dereferences big-endian multibyte fields and array elements from a policy blob without alignment-safe access. The path is reachable when local users can load AppArmor policy; architectures that fault on unaligned access can interrupt the host, with no reported data exposure or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-46254
- Published
- Jun 3, 2026
- Updated
- Jun 3, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 3, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 3, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=4.11
- Affected versionversion=e6e8bf418850d7958311a96ccfb594f2bcc8313e <23f112bd6144e815153462e12d313ac3e7027168
- Affected versionversion=e6e8bf418850d7958311a96ccfb594f2bcc8313e <64802f731214a51dfe3c6c27636b3ddafd003eb0
- Affected versionversion=e6e8bf418850d7958311a96ccfb594f2bcc8313e <cded636008bde2b397a7cf63b8299d7c303aaf6a
- Affected versionversion=e6e8bf418850d7958311a96ccfb594f2bcc8313e <ec737e7fdf2f0ba7b203d4ec72cc915978b10e7e
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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