Use of Uninitialized Variable in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72455
Published: August 15, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU142985
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-72455
CWE-ID: CWE-457
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to use of an uninitialized pointer in the AppArmor path handling logic when auditing file paths after a dentry has been replaced with aa_null.dentry. A local user can trigger file open operations that reach the affected audit path to cause a denial of service.
The issue can result in a kernel page fault during processing in audit_log_untrustedstring().
Affected software
Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
Ubuntu
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-72455
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1