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TI-2026-70790 Aliases CVE-2026-19735

Predictable TCP initial sequence numbers in Zephyr after random source failure

Priority LOW 21CWE-330Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
Low · Low · None
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

Zephyr from 3.7.0 before 4.3.2 and from 4.4.0 before 4.5.0 generates TCP initial sequence numbers from a secret key that stays all zero when the random source fails during boot. The RFC 6528 key generation in the TCP stack discards the error from the random call and never retries, so the key is never filled. An off-path attacker can then predict initial sequence numbers for connections, which enables blind connection spoofing and blind data injection against peers that trust the source address (CWE-330). Devices whose entropy source never fails are not affected.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04

Description from the CNA

The RFC 6528 initial-sequence-number implementation in subsys/net/ip/tcp.c derived every TCP ISN from SHA-256(unique_key || four-tuple) plus a uptime-derived offset, where unique_key is a 128-bit secret filled once by sys_csrand_get(). The return value of that call was discarded and the once guard was latched to true even when the call failed. Because sys_csrand_get() leaves the destination buffer untouched on failure (it deliberately propagates the entropy-driver error rather than filling the buffer), a single failed call left unique_key as its all-zero BSS content for the remainder of the boot, with no retry, no log message and no fallback. A failure of the cryptographic random source is required to reach the weak state — for example -ENODEV/-EIO from the entropy driver in subsys/random/random_entropy_device.c (the in-tree comment notes that the hardware RNG "might still be gathering entropy during early boot situations"), or psa_generate_random() failing in subsys/random/random_psa.c when PSA crypto is not initialised or is backed by a Bluetooth-HCI entropy device that is not yet up. The first TCP connection is what triggers key generation, so a remote peer that reaches a listening port immediately after boot, or that can provoke a reboot, has indirect influence over whether generation coincides with that window. tcp_init_isn() is called for every passive open in tcp_conn_new() and every active open in net_tcp_connect(), so the poisoned key governs all TCP connections for that boot. With an all-zero key the ISN becomes a public function of the connection four-tuple plus a device-wide time offset. An off-path attacker can compute the hash term offline for any four-tuple and recover the shared time offset from a single observed ISN, after which the ISN the device will pick for other four-tuples is predictable. That defeats exactly the protection RFC 6528 provides: blind TCP connection spoofing against peers that trust the source address, and blind data injection into or reset of connections whose four-tuple can be guessed. Devices whose entropy source never errors were never in the weak state. The fix moves key generation into a single guarded helper that latches only on success, logs the error otherwise, and makes tcp_init_isn() fall back to sys_rand32_get() — the behaviour already used when CONFIG_NET_TCP_ISN_RFC6528 is disabled — instead of hashing with a known-constant key.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0016 5th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed zephyr (zephyrproject): 4.3.2, 4.5.0

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
zephyrprojectzephyr3.7.0 to before 4.3.2; 4.4.0 to before 4.5.04.3.2, 4.5.0Patch availableCNA
  • zephyr Vendorzephyrproject Affected 3.7.0 to before 4.3.2; 4.4.0 to before 4.5.0 Fixed in 4.3.2, 4.5.0 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——zephyrproject
  • cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·zephyrproject

Remediation

Update Zephyr to 4.3.2 or 4.5.0, which fix the issue.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-04

  • Fix · CNA zephyr (zephyrproject) Fixed in 4.3.2, 4.5.0

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    zephyrproject zephyr 4.3.2, 4.5.0

    5 records Highest priority Priority LOW 5 LOW

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-70789 Unbounded stack arrays in Zephyr fuel gauge syscalls allow kernel overflowPriority LOW 35
    • TI-2026-70795 Zephyr Bluetooth LE Controller leaks receive nodes in PHY UpdatePriority LOW 28
    • TI-2026-70794 Zephyr Bluetooth LE controller leaks retained RX node on unexpected PDUPriority LOW 28

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-11 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-19735
  2. 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  3. 2026-11-04 Fix available: [email protected], [email protected] · CNA

References

  • TI-2026-04422 Out-of-bounds read/write in HTTP WebSocket upgrade via non-null-terminated Sec-WebSocket-Key CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-01361 dns: memory‑safety issue in the DNS name parser CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-09174 Unterminated URI buffer causes out-of-bounds read in LwM2M firmware pull (Package URI) CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
  • TI-2026-09168 Stack buffer overflow in `net_ipaddr_parse()` IPv4 address-with-port parsing in `subsys/net/ip/utils.c` CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2024-09625 net: lib: http_server: Buffer Under-read CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
  • TI-2021-02863 Usb bluetooth device ACL read cb buffer overflow CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.6
See all 341 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences