Cross-thread FPU register leak on ARM when FPU enabled without register sharing
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-200.
Summary
On the Zephyr ARM port, enabling the hardware FPU (CONFIG_FPU) forces the "Floating point ABI" choice, which defaults to CONFIG_FP_HARDABI. Both FP_HARDABI and FP_SOFTABI permit the compiler to emit hardware FP instructions in any function, even code that never uses floating-point types. However, the callee-saved FP registers (s16-s31 / d8-d15) are only saved and restored across a context switch when CONFIG_FPU_SHARING is enabled (arch/arm/core/cortex_m/swap_helper.S and arch/arm/core/cortex_a_r/swap_helper.S), and prior to this fix selecting an ABI did not enable FPU register sharing, which defaults off. In a build that enables the FPU with the default ABI but leaves CONFIG_FPU_SHARING disabled, the kernel preserves no callee-saved FP register state across thread switches. The documented precondition for this "unshared" mode — that only a single thread ever executes FP instructions — is silently violated because the compiler may generate FP instructions in every thread. Under CONFIG_USERSPACE, where threads are mutually isolated, this becomes an information-disclosure boundary crossing: a victim thread can leave secret-derived values in s16-s31, and a co-resident unprivileged thread can read those registers directly (FP register access is not privilege-gated), recovering data left behind by another thread. Without userspace the same defect causes cross-thread FP state corruption (a correctness fault). The leak is bounded to the 16 callee-saved single-precision registers and is opportunistic, so impact is low. The fix makes FP_HARDABI and FP_SOFTABI select CONFIG_FPU_SHARING and tags every thread with K_FP_REGS at creation, so callee-saved FP state is always preserved across context switches whenever the compiler may emit FP instructions.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zephyrproject | zephyr | 1.13.0 to before 4.4.2 | 4.4.2 | Patch available | CNA |
- zephyr Vendorzephyrproject Affected 1.13.0 to before 4.4.2 Fixed in 4.4.2 Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | zephyrproject |
- cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·zephyrproject
Remediation
- Fix · CNA zephyr (zephyrproject) Fixed in 4.4.2
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
zephyrproject zephyr 4.4.2
4 records Highest priority Priority LOW 4 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
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- TI-2026-10261 Double free / use-after-free in Bouffalo Lab HCI driver send() error paths (hci_bflb)Priority LOW 26
- TI-2026-10388 NULL pointer dereference in USB DFU device_next download handler (handle_download)Priority LOW 21
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-11985
References
Patch 1
Other 1
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Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences