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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-23269

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: validate DFA start states are in bounds in unpack_pdb Start states are read from untrusted data and used as indexes into the DFA state tables. The aa_dfa_next() function call in unpack_pdb() will access dfa->tables[YYTD_ID_BASE][start], and if the start state exceeds the number of states in the DFA, this results in an out-of-bound read. ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in aa_dfa_next+0x2a1/0x360 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88811956fb90 by task su/1097 ... Reject policies with out-of-bounds start states during unpacking to prevent the issue.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-125

The code reads past the end (or before the start) of a buffer, returning memory that was never meant to be exposed. Attackers use it to leak secrets like keys or to defeat memory-protection defences. Remediation is validating indices and lengths before every read.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds read class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.4, < 5.10.253>= 5.11, < 5.15.203>= 5.16, < 6.1.169>= 6.2, < 6.6.130>= 6.7, < 6.12.77>= 6.13, < 6.18.18>= 6.19, < 6.19.8= 7.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 / 6.1.169 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2535.15.2036.1.169
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.6.130 or later (or the corresponding stable patch for your branch: 5.10.253+, 5.15.203+, or 6.1.169+)

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Check if the current version is affected by reviewing the affected version ranges: >= 3.4, < 5.10.253; >= 5.11, < 5.15.203; >= 5.16, < 6.1.169; >= 6.2, < 6.6.130
  3. 3. If affected, plan for a kernel upgrade to a patched version
  4. 4. For production systems, test the new kernel in a staging environment before deploying
  5. 5. Apply the kernel upgrade through the distribution's package manager or by compiling from source
  6. 6. Reboot the system into the new patched kernel
  7. 7. Verify the kernel version after reboot using `uname -r` to confirm the fix is applied
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require reboot and could introduce regressions in drivers or features; ensure compatibility with existing system configurations and test thoroughly before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-23269 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data