KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 2.6.36

apparmor StaleLabel UAF

CVE-2026-89762

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI6.8MEDIUM

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix cred UAF caused by begin_current_label_crit_section() AppArmor's begin_current_label_crit_section() is a scary function called from lots of LSM hooks (in particular VFS/socket-related ones) that checks if the label referenced by the current creds is marked FLAG_STALE, and if so, attempts to use aa_replace_current_label() to replace the creds with an updated version that uses a new label. The first problem with this is that it would directly lead to UAF of `struct cred` if anything in the kernel takes a pointer to the current creds and accesses these past a security hook invocation that replaces creds, like so: ``` const struct cred *cred = current_cred(); alloc_file_pseudo(...); uid_t uid = cred->euid; ``` I don't know if anything in the kernel actually does this, but I think it is very surprising that this pattern could lead to UAF. The second problem is that things go wrong when aa_replace_current_label() runs with overridden credentials. aa_replace_current_label() bails out if `current_cred() != current_real_cred()` (mirroring the check in proc_pid_attr_write()), but this check can't actually reliably detect overridden credentials because the overridden creds can be the same as the objective creds. So in approximately the following scenario, things go wrong: 1. task begins with <creds A> (as both objective and subjective creds), with refcount=2 2. task grabs an extra reference on <creds A> for overriding 3. task calls override_creds(<creds A>), which returns a pointer to the old subjective creds (<creds A>) 4. task enters AppArmor LSM hook 5. AppArmor checks that objective/subjective creds are equal 6. AppArmor replaces both cred pointers with <creds B> and drops 2 refs on <creds A> 7. task leaves AppArmor LSM hook 8. task calls revert_creds(<creds A>) 9. now task->cred is <creds A> while task->real_cred is <creds B>, but the task_struct logically holds two references to <creds B> 10. another task drops the extra reference on <creds A> that was used for overriding, refcount drops to 0 11. now task->real_cred points to freed creds At this point, any access to current_cred() will be UAF. I have a test case where I run aa-disable on a profile while a process using that profile is blocked on splice() from a FUSE passthrough file into a full pipe; after the profile update, the pipe becomes empty, splice() resumes, the credentials go out of sync, and a subsequent getuid() syscall results in a KASAN UAF splat. To fix this, instead of directly replacing creds, do it via task_work that will run at the end of the current syscall. (The point in time at which the cred replacement happens should have no correctness impact; it is just a performance optimization to avoid unnecessarily touching the refcount of the new label.) Note that AppArmor still performs direct cred replacements in the sb_pivotroot LSM hook after this change, and that direct cred replacements can still happen in VFS ->write() callbacks via proc_pid_attr_write(). There are two options for what to do with aa_dup_task_ctx(): Either explicitly reset new->label_replacement_pending after the entire aa_task_ctx has been copied, or switch to manually copying members over. I am switching to manually copying members over because that should make bugs more obvious.

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

A privileged local user on a system running AppArmor can trigger a use-after-free on credential objects by racing a profile update (e.g. aa-disable) against a process blocked in a syscall with overridden credentials. The freed credential structure is then accessed on subsequent syscalls, leading to potential kernel memory corruption, privilege escalation, or a system crash. Any Linux system with AppArmor enabled and local administrative access is at risk.

Affectedsecurity/apparmor/include/cred.h, security/apparmor/task.c (apparmor)

Vulnerability analysis

When AppArmor detects that a task's security label is stale, it immediately replaces the task's credential object from within an LSM hook. If the task has overridden credentials (which can happen during operations like splice from a FUSE file), this direct replacement corrupts the credential reference counts: the old credential is freed while the task still holds a dangling pointer to it, causing a use-after-free on the next credential access. The fix defers the credential replacement to task_work that runs at syscall exit, avoiding the dangerous in-hook mutation entirely. The bug is reachable by a privileged local user who can update AppArmor profiles, such as by running aa-disable while a profiled process is blocked in a suitable syscall.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
6.122.6.366.12.109361488984d66
6.182.6.366.18.50587a6a92b93e
7.22.6.367.2.4580f777d6d9f
mainline2.6.367.3-rc13f4ae5fab613