Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-0849

Memory Safety in Zephyrproject Zephyr 4.3.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
16 March 2026
Modified
02 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 26 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-0849 is a low-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Zephyrproject Zephyr. Its CVSS base score is 3.8 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 15th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Malformed ATAES132A responses with an oversized length field overflow a 52-byte stack buffer in the Zephyr crypto driver, allowing a compromised device or bus attacker to corrupt kernel memory and potentially hijack execution.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Why these techniques?

Buffer overflow in kernel driver enables local privilege escalation via memory corruption and execution hijack.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-1679Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2023-4265Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2023-6881Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2026-10643Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2023-5139Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2026-10635Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2025-7403Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2026-10667Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2023-4424Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr
CVE-2023-4263Same product: Zephyrproject Zephyr

Affected Assets

zephyrproject
zephyr
4.3.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-7 Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces validation of the length field in ATAES132A responses before any copy into the 52-byte stack buffer, blocking the CWE-120 overflow.

prevent

Applies hardware or OS memory-protection features (stack canaries, guard pages, execute-never) that detect or block the stack corruption attempted by an oversized response.

preventdetect

Requires integrity verification of the Zephyr crypto driver code and its input-handling paths, reducing the chance an attacker can exploit a malformed device response.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

detects

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates processes that can include input validation and bounds checking to prevent buffer overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input-size validation and safe buffer handling to mitigate classic buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles promote defensive coding patterns that reduce the likelihood of unchecked buffer copies.

References