FKIE_CVE-2026-12365
Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-08-14 18:17 - Updated: 2026-08-14 20:16
Severity
Summary
A use-after-free exists in the Zephyr second-generation work queue (kernel/work.c) in the handling of delayable work timeouts. When a delayable work item's timeout has been dequeued and its handler work_timeout() is in flight (blocked acquiring the work-queue spinlock), a concurrent cancellation does not wait for that handler to finish. In unschedule_locked() the pre-fix code called z_abort_timeout(), which for an already-announcing record returns -EINVAL without removing it; cancel_async_locked() then observes the work as idle, so even k_work_cancel_delayable_sync() and k_work_flush_delayable() return without blocking on the in-flight handler.
Because those are the APIs the kernel header documents as the safe way to cancel before freeing a k_work_delayable, a caller that frees the object immediately after a successful sync cancel can race the still-pending handler. work_timeout() subsequently dereferences the freed record: it reads to->dticks via z_is_timeout_handler_canceled() and, if the freed slot has been reused so the bail check fails, performs a read-modify-write of wp->flags (K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT) and submits work against a stale dw->queue pointer — a use-after-free read and write.
The k_work API is kernel-mode only (no __syscall entry point), so this is a kernel-internal concurrency defect rather than a userspace privilege escalation. Triggering it requires an SMP build and a subsystem that schedules and then frees (or reschedules) a delayable work item in the narrow window while its timeout is announcing; an attacker able to influence the timing of such teardown (for example via connection churn driving subsystem timers) has a plausible but probabilistic path. The impact is kernel memory corruption or crash (denial of service).
The fix makes unschedule_locked() wait, by spinning on z_try_abort_timeout() returning -EAGAIN while releasing and re-acquiring the work spinlock, until any in-flight handler completes before returning, and switches work_timeout() to atomic K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT ownership. This closes both the free-then-handler use-after-free and the related reschedule early-fire race.
References
Impacted products
| Vendor | Product | Version |
|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"affectedData": [
{
"collectionURL": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"packageName": "zephyr",
"product": "zephyr",
"programFiles": [
"kernel/work.c"
],
"vendor": "zephyrproject",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "4.5.0",
"status": "affected",
"version": "2.6.0",
"versionType": "semver"
}
]
}
],
"source": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org"
}
],
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "A use-after-free exists in the Zephyr second-generation work queue (kernel/work.c) in the handling of delayable work timeouts. When a delayable work item\u0027s timeout has been dequeued and its handler work_timeout() is in flight (blocked acquiring the work-queue spinlock), a concurrent cancellation does not wait for that handler to finish. In unschedule_locked() the pre-fix code called z_abort_timeout(), which for an already-announcing record returns -EINVAL without removing it; cancel_async_locked() then observes the work as idle, so even k_work_cancel_delayable_sync() and k_work_flush_delayable() return without blocking on the in-flight handler.\n\nBecause those are the APIs the kernel header documents as the safe way to cancel before freeing a k_work_delayable, a caller that frees the object immediately after a successful sync cancel can race the still-pending handler. work_timeout() subsequently dereferences the freed record: it reads to-\u003edticks via z_is_timeout_handler_canceled() and, if the freed slot has been reused so the bail check fails, performs a read-modify-write of wp-\u003eflags (K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT) and submits work against a stale dw-\u003equeue pointer \u2014 a use-after-free read and write.\n\nThe k_work API is kernel-mode only (no __syscall entry point), so this is a kernel-internal concurrency defect rather than a userspace privilege escalation. Triggering it requires an SMP build and a subsystem that schedules and then frees (or reschedules) a delayable work item in the narrow window while its timeout is announcing; an attacker able to influence the timing of such teardown (for example via connection churn driving subsystem timers) has a plausible but probabilistic path. The impact is kernel memory corruption or crash (denial of service).\n\nThe fix makes unschedule_locked() wait, by spinning on z_try_abort_timeout() returning -EAGAIN while releasing and re-acquiring the work spinlock, until any in-flight handler completes before returning, and switches work_timeout() to atomic K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT ownership. This closes both the free-then-handler use-after-free and the related reschedule early-fire race."
}
],
"id": "CVE-2026-12365",
"lastModified": "2026-08-14T20:16:48.923",
"metrics": {
"cvssMetricV31": [
{
"cvssData": {
"attackComplexity": "HIGH",
"attackVector": "LOCAL",
"availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
"baseScore": 5.8,
"baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
"confidentialityImpact": "LOW",
"integrityImpact": "LOW",
"privilegesRequired": "LOW",
"scope": "UNCHANGED",
"userInteraction": "NONE",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"exploitabilityScore": 1.0,
"impactScore": 4.7,
"source": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org",
"type": "Secondary"
}
],
"ssvcV203": [
{
"source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
"ssvcData": {
"id": "CVE-2026-12365",
"options": [
{
"exploitation": "none"
},
{
"automatable": "no"
},
{
"technicalImpact": "partial"
}
],
"role": "CISA Coordinator",
"timestamp": "2026-08-14T19:22:10.432615Z",
"version": "2.0.3"
}
}
]
},
"published": "2026-08-14T18:17:21.933",
"references": [
{
"source": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org",
"url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/59cf34bf212eeb5c7ea88b97e15842b1e7c1a6b7"
},
{
"source": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org",
"url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-rhmh-r93p-6g99"
}
],
"sourceIdentifier": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org",
"vulnStatus": "Received",
"weaknesses": [
{
"description": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "CWE-416"
}
],
"source": "vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org",
"type": "Secondary"
}
]
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
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