CVE-2024-46721: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix possible NULL pointer dereference profile->parent->dents[AAFS_PROF

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix possible NULL pointer dereference profile->parent->dents[AAFS_PROF_DIR] coul

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: apparmor: fix possible NULL pointer dereference profile->parent->dents[AAFS_PROF_DIR] could be NULL only if its parent is made from __create_missing_ancestors(..) and 'ent->old' is NULL in aa_replace_profiles(..). In that case, it must return an error code and the code, -ENOENT represents its state that the path of its parent is not existed yet. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000030 PGD 0 P4D 0 PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 4 PID: 3362 Comm: apparmor_parser Not tainted 6.8.0-24-generic #24 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:aafs_create.constprop.0+0x7f/0x130 Code: 4c 63 e0 48 83 c4 18 4c 89 e0 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d 31 d2 31 c9 31 f6 31 ff 45 31 c0 45 31 c9 45 31 d2 c3 cc cc cc cc <4d> 8b 55 30 4d 8d ba a0 00 00 00 4c 89 55 c0 4c 89 ff e8 7a 6a ae RSP: 0018:ffffc9000b2c7c98 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00000000000041ed RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffc9000b2c7cd8 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.23%, higher than 14% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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