NVD / CVE Program· CNA zephyr

CVE-2026-10635: Dangling memory-domain pointer (use-after-free) in Xtensa MMU page-table code on memory-domain de-init

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 25/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.16% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: zephyrproject zephyr 4.4.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to zephyrproject zephyr 4.4.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

On Xtensa targets with CONFIG_USERSPACE and CONFIG_XTENSA_MMU, the page-table code (arch/xtensa/core/ptables.c) maintains a global list, xtensa_domain_list, of active memory domains using a list node embedded inside the caller-owned struct k_mem_domain. When a domain is destroyed via k_mem_domain_deinit() -> arch_mem_domain_deinit(), the page tables are torn down and domain->arch.ptables is set to NULL, but the domain's node was not removed from xtensa_domain_list. The freed/deinitialized domain therefore remained linked into the global list as a dangling pointer into caller-owned storage that may then be freed or reused. Any subsequent arch_mem_map()/arch_mem_unmap() operation (widely invoked by kernel memory-mapping and demand-paging code) traverses the stale node and dereferences domain->ptables: at minimum a NULL pointer dereference causing a fatal MMU exception (denial of service), and if the k_mem_domain storage has been freed or reused, a use-after-free in which a stale/controlled ptables value is dereferenced and written through during the page-table walk (l2_page_table_map writes l1_table[...] and l2_table[...], and xtensa_mmu_compute_domain_regs writes into the domain struct and the L1 table), yielding page-table memory corruption that can undermine userspace isolation. The vulnerable path is reachable only from privileged kernel/supervisor code (k_mem_domain_deinit is not a syscall), not directly from unprivileged user threads or remotely. Affected: Zephyr v4.4.0 (the Xtensa memory-domain de-initialization feature was introduced in commit 3032b58f52d and first shipped in v4.4.0); fixed on main by adding sys_slist_find_and_remove() in arch_mem_domain_deinit(). The Xtensa MPU path is unaffected.

MediumCVSS 6.3 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Memory safety

Published: Jun 16, 2026
Updated: Oct 25, 2026
EPSS: 0.1% · 5th percentile
CWE: CWE-416

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 25 / 40 · 6.3 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.1%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 6.3
CNA · zephyr: 6.3; agree

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
zephyrproject	zephyr	cpe:2.3:o:zephyrproject:zephyr

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

zephyrproject zephyr4.4.0

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (zephyr). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

zephyrproject zephyr
- 4.4.0 and later · before 4.4.2affected · semver

Same product

zephyrproject: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2023-4260Potential off-by-one buffer overflow vulnerability in the Zephyr FS subsystem
40Plan
CVE-2021-3625Buffer overflow in Zephyr USB DFU DNLOAD
40Plan
CVE-2020-10071Insufficient publish message length validation in MQTT
40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-5068Jun 9, 2026 · bt: l2cap le coc: remote oob write via seg counter stored in net_buf user_data
35Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-10634Jun 15, 2026 · Use-after-free in Zephyr native TCP `net_tcp_foreach()` due to dropping `tcp_lock` during the callback
21Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-10636Jun 16, 2026 · Use-after-free in Zephyr IPv4 IGMP send path (`igmp_send`)
14Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
zephyrproject zephyr	4.4.2	Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

zephyrproject-rtos/zephyrcommit 33d43d0

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

CVE-2026-1236659 days apartUse-after-free freeing an armed dynamically-allocated k_timer in Zephyr userspace object disposal
35Monitor
CVE-2026-85035140 days apartUse-after-free via dynamically allocated message queue retained by the CAN RX filter
35Monitor
CVE-2026-1066726 days apartSMP use-after-free in Zephyr `CONFIG_USERSPACE` dynamic kernel-object tracking, reachable from unprivileged user threads
31Monitor
CVE-2026-79979129 days apartStale TLB entries after demand-paging page-out let arm64 user threads access reused physical frames
31Monitor
CVE-2026-106380 days apartUse-after-free in Zephyr ICMPv6 RX path when updating statistics after sending an echo reply or error
30Monitor
CVE-2026-1068545 days apartUse-after-free of GATT subscribe params in Bluetooth host CCC-write response handler
30Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
Administrator privileges are required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: low · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: Low
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-416 · Use After Free

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-416 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1free(dev->buf);
2/* ... another thread is still running ... */
3process(dev->buf);

Fixed

1lock(&dev->lock);
2free(dev->buf);
3dev->buf = NULL;
4unlock(&dev->lock);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/33d43d09337119fc6084b4ab545f9267839973f6

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records