NULL-pointer dereference in MCUmgr serial/console SMP transport on buffer-pool exhaustion

Summary

CVECVE-2026-10648
StatePUBLISHED
Assignerzephyr
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-06-29 23:16:42 UTC
Updated2026-07-01 13:59:27 UTC
Descriptionmcumgr_serial_process_frag() in subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/transport/src/serial_util.c calls net_buf_reset() on the result of smp_packet_alloc() before checking it for NULL. smp_packet_alloc() uses net_buf_alloc(K_NO_WAIT) against the shared MCUmgr packet pool (CONFIG_MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_NETBUF_COUNT, default 4), which returns NULL when the pool is exhausted. In default builds the __ASSERT_NO_MSG in net_buf_reset is a no-op, so net_buf_simple_reset writes through the NULL pointer (buf->len = 0; buf->data = buf->__buf), causing a fault/crash. The fragment data reaches this code from attacker-controlled bytes on the MCUmgr serial/UART/shell-console transports (smp_uart.c, smp_raw_uart.c, smp_shell.c), and a fresh buffer is allocated at the start of essentially every new packet. An attacker on the serial/console link can flood the transport to drive the 4-entry buffer pool to exhaustion and induce the NULL dereference, crashing the device (denial of service). The defect was introduced after the original MCUmgr rework and shipped in Zephyr v4.4.0. The fix moves the NULL check ahead of net_buf_reset.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 5.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS: 0.001090000 probability, percentile 0.014630000 (date 2026-07-03)

Problem Types: CWE-476 | CWE-476 memory-safety


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Primary5.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1[email protected]Secondary6.2MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1CNACVSS6.2MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Operating System Zephyrproject Zephyr 4.4.0 - All All
Operating System Zephyrproject Zephyr 4.4.0 rc1 All All
Operating System Zephyrproject Zephyr 4.4.0 rc2 All All
Operating System Zephyrproject Zephyr 4.4.0 rc3 All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Zephyrproject Zephyr affected 4.4.0 4.5.0 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-j64f-h3ww-... [email protected] github.com Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory
github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/6f363ec6f7fd6ae9ed7ca2ae66fd... [email protected] github.com Patch
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
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