CVE-2026-45966

MEDIUMNVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-05-27. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 3 sources updated this week
5.5
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation

When receiving file descriptors via SCM_RIGHTS, both the socket pointer and the socket's sk pointer can be NULL during socket setup or teardown, causing NULL pointer dereferences in __unix_needs_revalidation().

This is a regression in AppArmor 5.0.0 (kernel 6.17+) where the new __unix_needs_revalidation() function was added without proper NULL checks.

The crash manifests as: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0x0000000000000018 RIP: aa_file_perm+0xb7/0x3b0 (or +0xbe/0x3b0, +0xc0/0x3e0) Call Trace: apparmor_file_receive+0x42/0x80 security_file_receive+0x2e/0x50 receive_fd+0x1d/0xf0 scm_detach_fds+0xad/0x1c0

The function dereferences sock->sk->sk_family without checking if either sock or sock->sk is NULL first.

Add NULL checks for both sock and sock->sk before accessing sk_family.

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5(medium)
EPSS
2.2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

May 27, 2026

Last Modified

June 16, 2026

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jun 16, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fea017a7f6abe179decf575a2d8464c74edb3964
generic

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e85bc9101afc4202aa2269967ce9d3ffbecd0994
generic

apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in __unix_needs_revalidation - kernel/git/stable/linux.git - Linux kernel stable tree

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2938ad00b21340c0362562dfedd7cfec0554d67

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-45966(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulinux-tools-gcp-64k-6.17 (6.17.0-1018.19) @ questing2026-07-12ubuntu
ubuntulinux-tools-nvidia-hwe-24.04 (6.17.0-1026.26) @ noble2026-07-12ubuntu

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 51× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-16 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-13 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-12 01:37 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-07-12 01:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-09 00:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-07-08 15:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-07 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-06 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-06 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-04 06:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-01 15:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-01 11:15 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-07-01 11:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-29 14:27 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-06-29 14:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 71 more
  1. 2026-06-28 06:52 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-06-28 06:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-27 06:10 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-06-27 06:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-26 02:41 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-06-26 02:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-25 01:34 UTCEG score recompute▲ 5.50
  12. 2026-06-25 01:34 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-06-25 01:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-06-24 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-23 21:33 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-22 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-22 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-21 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-21 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-21 01:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-21 01:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-19 19:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-19 19:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-18 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-18 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-17 17:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-16 17:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-16 03:45 UTCNVD updateCVSS v3 → 5.5 · severity → MEDIUM
  30. 2026-06-15 22:20 UTCVendor advisory
  31. 2026-06-15 22:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-06-15 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-13 23:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-12 23:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-12 23:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-12 22:56 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-06-12 22:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-06-11 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-06-10 22:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-06-10 13:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-06-10 13:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-06-09 23:36 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-06-09 23:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-06-08 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-06-08 14:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-06-07 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-06-07 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-06-07 00:17 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-06-07 00:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-06-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-06-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-06-05 22:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-06-05 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-06-05 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-06-04 13:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-06-04 13:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-06-04 00:58 UTCVendor advisory
  58. 2026-06-04 00:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-06-02 20:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-06-01 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-06-01 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-06-01 01:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-05-31 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-05-31 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-05-31 00:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-05-31 00:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-05-29 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-05-29 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-05-28 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-05-28 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-05-27 14:14 UTCEG score recompute

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-45966?
CVE-2026-45966 is a medium vulnerability published on May 27, 2026. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix NULL pointer dereference in unixneedsrevalidation When receiving file descriptors via SCM_RIGHTS, both the socket pointer and the socket's sk pointer can be NULL during socket setup or teardown, causing NULL pointer…
When was CVE-2026-45966 disclosed?
CVE-2026-45966 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on May 27, 2026, with the most recent update on June 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-45966 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-45966 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 2.2% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-45966?
CVE-2026-45966 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-45966?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-45966, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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