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TI-2026-78937 Aliases CVE-2026-79976

NULL pointer dereference in Zephyr MCTP I2C+GPIO target binding

Priority LOW 31CWE-476Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Adjacent network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
Low · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.

Summary

Zephyr from 4.3.0 before 4.3.2 and from 4.4.0 before 4.5.0 is affected. The MCTP I2C+GPIO target binding keeps a selected register and data-phase state after an I2C STOP, so it dereferences a NULL packet buffer (CWE-476). An unauthenticated controller on the shared I2C management bus can trigger it with two ordinary transactions, causing a fatal exception and device reset or halt on targets that trap address 0. Only builds with the experimental CONFIG_MCTP subsystem and CONFIG_MCTP_I2C_GPIO_TARGET=y are affected.

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

Description from the CNA

The MCTP-over-I2C+GPIO target binding in subsys/pmci/mctp/mctp_i2c_gpio_target.c emulates a small pseudo-register file, where the bus controller first writes a register number and then writes or reads payload bytes. The selected register (b->reg_addr) and the data-phase flag (b->rxtx) were never cleared when the controller issued an I2C STOP, so after a completed transfer the target still had a data register selected while the packet buffer that register refers to had already been consumed and set to NULL by mctp_i2c_gpio_target_stop(). A controller on the bus can re-enter the same branch of mctp_i2c_gpio_target_stop() with a NULL buffer using two ordinary transactions and no authentication: first a normal packet write to MCTP_I2C_GPIO_RX_MSG_ADDR followed by STOP (which delivers and frees b->rx_pkt), then a bare read transaction followed by STOP. The failing read_requested() call leaves the stale state untouched and the I2C driver still delivers the STOP callback, which then calls mctp_bus_rx() with a NULL packet. The symmetric case exists on the transmit side, where the stale MCTP_I2C_GPIO_TX_MSG_ADDR selection dereferences b->tx_pkt->end after b->tx_pkt has been cleared and additionally signals b->tx_complete a second time, causing the next outbound packet to be dropped. The dereference happens in the I2C target interrupt handler, so on any target that traps accesses to address 0 the result is a fatal exception and a device reset or halt — a denial of service inflicted by any device able to act as controller on the shared management bus (for example compromised firmware on a peer MCTP endpoint or on the BMC). On parts where address 0 is readable, the impact degrades to a malformed packet buffer being handed to the MCTP stack and lost transmit packets. No attacker-controlled value is written and no confidentiality or integrity boundary is crossed. The fix resets b->reg_addr to MCTP_I2C_GPIO_INVALID_ADDR and clears b->rxtx at every STOP, so a new register must be selected before any data phase can run again. Only builds that opt into the experimental CONFIG_MCTP subsystem with CONFIG_MCTP_I2C_GPIO_TARGET=y are affected.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0029 21st 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
zephyrprojectzephyr4.3.0 to before 4.3.2; 4.4.0 to before 4.5.04.3.2, 4.5.0Patch availableCNA
  • zephyr Vendorzephyrproject Affected 4.3.0 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

Upgrade Zephyr to 4.3.2 or 4.5.0. Versions from 4.3.0 before 4.3.2 are fixed in 4.3.2, and versions from 4.4.0 before 4.5.0 are fixed in 4.5.0.

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-2026-78931 Zephyr PECI transfer lets user code reach kernel memoryPriority LOW 35
    • TI-2026-78933 Double free in the Zephyr Broadcom AFBR-S50 sensor driverPriority LOW 23
    • TI-2026-78934 Race condition in Zephyr PSOC 6 BLESS driver leaks adjacent memoryPriority LOW 19

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-21 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-79976
  2. 2026-10-23 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
  3. 2026-10-23 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  4. 2026-11-04 Fix available: [email protected], [email protected] · CNA
  5. 2026-11-04 1 new reference · 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