Integer underflow of net_buf length in the MCUmgr serial (SMP over console) transport leads to out-of-bounds read
The MCUmgr SMP-over-console transport decodes a base64 frame, reads a 16-bit packet length from it, verifies a CRC and then unconditionally strips the trailing CRC with rx_ctxt->nb->len -= 2U; in mcumgr_serial_process_frag() (subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/transport/src/serial_util.c). mcumgr_serial_extract_len() accepted any declared length, including 0 and 1, and a packet declaring length 0 passes the checksum test for free because crc16_itu_t() over zero bytes returns the zero seed. Since net_buf::len is a uint16_t, the subtraction underflows and the buffer is handed to SMP claiming roughly 65 KB of payload while its data area is only CONFIG_MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_NETBUF_SIZE bytes (default 384). The trigger is a single unauthenticated 7-byte line on the management console — the 0x06 0x09 packet marker followed by the base64 group AAA= and a newline — delivered to any transport built on this helper: CONFIG_MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_UART (smp_uart.c) or CONFIG_MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_SHELL (smp_shell.c), both of which select MCUMGR_TRANSPORT_SERIAL_HAS_SMP_OVER_CONSOLE. No prior session state, fragmentation or credentials are required to trigger the underflow, and the malformed frame is mishandled before any command handler or command-level access control runs. The attacker only needs write access to that console, which on many boards is a USB CDC-ACM port rather than a bare UART header. With the inflated length, smp_process_request_packet() in subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/smp/src/smp.c loses its bound: cbor_nb_reade
CVE-2026-18747
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-18747
zephyr
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"vendor": "zephyrproject",
"product": "zephyr",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1.11.0",
"lessThan": "4.4.2",
"versionType": "semver"
}
],
"packageName": "zephyr",
"programFiles": [
"subsys/mgmt/mcumgr/transport/src/serial_util.c"
],
"collectionURL": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programRoutines": [
{
"name": "mcumgr_serial_extract_len"
},
{
"name": "mcumgr_serial_process_frag"
}
]
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-18747
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
medium
Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics
- Event
- #4374 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date