[PATCH] apparmor: fix out-of-bounds read of xmatch perms during exec attachment

From: Henry Martin

Date: Fri Nov 06 2026 - 13:54:22 EST


verify_profile() validates the accept table indexes of the file
and policy dfas, but never of the attach xmatch dfa. When a policy
carries an explicit xmatch perms table, the blob accept values are
used as indexes into that table unchecked. At exec time,
aa_lookup_perms() uses one as an index into the xmatch perms array
with no bounds check.

The index is a full 32-bit value from the blob, so the read can be
placed gigabytes past the table, across the entire direct map. The
bytes read are interpreted as the allow/deny bits of the exec
request, and the transition outcome is observable by the task,
turning the bug into a bit-per-query read oracle over kernel
memory. An index pointing at unmapped memory oopses in
find_attach() at exec time. E.g. on mainline v7.4-rc1 (KASAN
build):

BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in find_attach+0xc50/0xfe0
Read of size 4 at addr ffff88810fb2f934 by task su/495
CPU: 5 UID: 1000 PID: 495 Comm: su
Call Trace:
kasan_report
find_attach
profile_transition
apparmor_bprm_creds_for_exec
bprm_execve
__x64_sys_execve

Run verify_dfa_accept_index() on the attach xmatch dfa in
verify_profile(), the same check the file and policy dfas already
get.

This issue was discovered by Tencent CodeBuddy Security.

Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 6f442d42c0d89 ("apparmor: fix profile verification and enable it")
Signed-off-by: Henry Martin <bsdhenrymartin@xxxxxxxxx>
---
security/apparmor/policy_unpack.c | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/security/apparmor/policy_unpack.c b/security/apparmor/policy_unpack.c
index 35dfa3b451f39..054aad13f5e48 100644
--- a/security/apparmor/policy_unpack.c
+++ b/security/apparmor/policy_unpack.c
@@ -1593,6 +1593,15 @@ static int verify_profile(struct aa_profile *profile)
return -EPROTO;
}

+ if (profile->attach.xmatch->dfa &&
+ !verify_dfa_accept_index(profile->attach.xmatch->dfa,
+ profile->attach.xmatch->size)) {
+ audit_iface(profile, NULL, NULL,
+ "Unpack: xmatch Invalid named transition", NULL,
+ -EPROTO);
+ return -EPROTO;
+ }
+
if (!verify_perms(rules->file)) {
audit_iface(profile, NULL, NULL,
"Unpack: Invalid perm index", NULL, -EPROTO);
--
2.43.7