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NVD / CVE Program· CNA zephyr

CVE-2026-16512: Out-of-bounds read in the Zephyr gPTP receive path when handling short Ethernet frames

LowCVSS 3.1 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 12/100)

  • 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: 0.21% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone on the same network segment can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: zephyrproject zephyr 4.3.2, 4.4.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to zephyrproject zephyr 4.3.2, 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

gptp_handle_msg() in subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp.c dereferenced the gPTP header returned by GPTP_HDR() and switched on hdr->message_type without first checking that the received frame carries at least sizeof(struct gptp_hdr) (34) bytes of payload. The header accessor gptp_get_hdr() deliberately never fails for a short buffer — it returns pkt->frags->data and leaves validation to its callers — so a truncated frame produced a header pointer covering memory beyond the received data. The per-message-type checks that follow do not compensate: GPTP_VALID_LEN() reduces to len > 60 once the Ethernet header has been pulled, which is false for every fixed-size gPTP message, so GPTP_CHECK_LEN() never rejects a truncated SYNC, FOLLOWUP, PDELAY_RESP or SIGNALING message. The defect is reached by an unauthenticated peer on the same link sending an Ethernet frame with ethertype 0x88F7 to the PTP multicast address on an interface configured as a gPTP port, with CONFIG_NET_GPTP enabled. Because conformant Ethernet pads frames to 60 bytes, a payload shorter than 34 bytes generally requires a link that can deliver sub-minimum frames — for example the native_sim TAP driver (drivers/ethernet/eth_native_tap.c), which forwards whatever length the host device supplies, or a MAC configured to accept undersized frames. The short packet is retained (net_pkt_ref() into rcvd_sync_ptr, rcvd_follow_up_ptr, rcvd_pdelay_resp_ptr or rcvd_announce_ptr) and later parsed by the media-dependent and media-independent state machines in subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp_md.c and subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp_mi.c, which read tens of further bytes and copy some of them (the announce priority vector, hdr->port_id) into state that is subsequently transmitted. Under the default fixed-size buffer allocator (CONFIG_NET_BUF_FIXED_DATA_SIZE, 128-byte fragments) the accesses stay inside the allocated fragment and disclose stale recycled buffer contents; under the experimental CONFIG_NET_BUF_VARIABLE_DATA_SIZE allocator, where fragments are heap-allocated at the exact frame length, they are genuine out-of-bounds reads. There is no write and no availability impact.

Published
Sep 18, 2026
Updated
Nov 4, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 11th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

12

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
12 / 40 · 3.1 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · zephyr
3.1
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

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.

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When you'll hear from us

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  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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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.

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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.

—

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

    • 1.13.0 and later · before 4.3.2affected · semver
    • 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-2026-16148Sep 14, 2026 · Kernel panic in the it82xx2 USB device controller driver via re-initialization of a busy delayable work item
    18Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-16514Sep 18, 2026 · Out-of-bounds read in gPTP Announce path-trace validation via unvalidated stepsRemoved
    17Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-16515Sep 18, 2026 · ICMPv6 error messages sent for multicast-destined packets and non-unique source addresses enable network amplification in Zephyr's IPv6 stack
    18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

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

Product / packageFixed versionSource
zephyrproject zephyr4.3.2Vendor (CNA)
zephyrproject zephyr4.4.2Vendor (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.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

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

Variant candidates

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

  • CVE-2026-1067266 days apartUnterminated URI buffer causes out-of-bounds read in LwM2M firmware pull (Package URI)
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2026-1067365 days apartOut-of-bounds write in ADIN2111/ADIN1110 OA SPI Ethernet RX frame reassembly
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2026-1084847 days apartOut-of-bounds read in Zephyr OCPP 1.6 RPC message parser (parse_rpc_msg)
    34Monitor
  • CVE-2026-7768553 days apartBluetooth Classic RFCOMM: integer underflow in the MCC TEST command handler leads to out-of-bounds read disclosed to the peer and out-of-bounds write
    33Monitor
  • CVE-2026-926380 days apartOut-of-bounds read in Bluetooth Controller ISOAL framed RX reassembly leaks adjacent memory into host HCI ISO packets
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2026-8704147 days apartInverted memory-permission check in the RTIO syscall verifier allows a user-mode thread to read and write arbitrary kernel memory
    31Monitor

Not on record for this CVE: researcher credit · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone on the same network segment can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
none
Availability
none
Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-125 · Out-of-bounds Read

CVSS vector

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

nvd-secondary

Attack context

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

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (1 more)

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

All records