# AppArmor Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/apparmor/ 10 people recommended AppArmor in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 12 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Slightly more people criticize it than recommend it. Linux mandatory access control that confines programs and sandboxes untrusted input, with proactive defense praised. Critics say it is hard to configure and exempts some programs. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Browsers and busybox exempted (3 comments in the sample): "With apparmor every single browser (firefox,chrome,msedge,etc… as well as busybox" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48076826)) "busybox as an example, which is a required package yet privileged in apparmor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47755129)) "Looking at how every browser and busybox is exempted from apparmor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46512989)) - Hard to configure, often disabled (3 comments in the sample): "when people have issues getting software to work, the first thing they are told to try is to turn all that stuff off" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46096379)) "so hard to get correctly that everyone on the desktop disables them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095550)) "causing a few headaches along the way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47932433)) - Progress is slow and incomplete (2 comments in the sample): "AppArmor was a decent step forward, but clearly not enough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48070744)) "I feel like apparmor is getting there, very, very slowly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46763248)) - Outdated design for modern systems (2 comments in the sample): "They look like they are made to comply with some outdated standards from 80s." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48595415)) "So it is some outdated technology unfit for modern day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841908)) ## Why people recommend it - Sandboxes untrusted programs and input (3 comments in the sample): "use an LSM like Tomoyo, App Armor or SELinux to not allow the AI to read the secrets file" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687307)) "AppArmor profile is probably what you are looking for to run ffmpeg on untrusted input" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171129)) "App armor in linux is also nice gvisor like tool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49972968)) - Proactive mandatory access control (2 comments in the sample): "In this day and age infrastructure operators should familiarize themselves with proactive defenses" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48142102)) "It's evident that Mandatory Access Control has become, ahem, mandatory." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49458086)) - Pairs well with SELinux (2 comments in the sample): "Seems the best stopgap is SELinux or AppArmor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50176473)) "apparmor/selinux pair incredibly well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49371283)) ## What people recommend instead - [SELinux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selinux/): 21 recommend, 15 mixed, 26 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "AppArmor", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apparmor/ (10 recommend, 5 mixed, 11 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.