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LOW Received

CVE-2026-11809

The UpdateHub OTA client in subsys/mgmt/updatehub/updatehub.c contains an out-of-bounds / uninitialized-memory read in z_impl_updatehub_probe(). The probe response from the UpdateHub server is copied into a heap buffer (metadata) that is correctly NUL-terminated, but a second buffer (metadata_copy) is allocated with k_malloc (unzeroed) and filled with memcpy(metadata_copy, metadata, strlen(metadata)), which omits the terminating NUL. Everything after the copied content remains uninitialized heap. When the first json_obj_parse() over the array descriptor fails, the code falls back to json_obj_parse(metadata_copy, strlen(metadata_copy), ...). The strlen() call scans past the copied bytes through uninitialized heap and, if no zero byte is found before the end of the allocation, reads beyond the buffer; the resulting over-long length is then parsed as JSON. The probe payload is fully controlled by the (malicious, compromised, or — without the optional CONFIG_UPDATEHUB_DTLS — on-path) UpdateHub server, which can craft a large payload that fails the first parse to drive this path. The consequence is a read of uninitialized heap, with a worst case of an out-of-bounds read past the metadata_copy allocation that can fault and crash the update thread/device, producing a network-triggerable denial of service. The over-read data is consumed only internally to evaluate the update and is not returned to the attacker, so there is no direct information disclosure and no out-of-bounds write. The fix zeroes metadata_copy with memset before the copy, guaranteeing NUL termination and bounding strlen() within the allocation.

Published 10 Aug 2026, 21:17 UTC Last modified 10 Aug 2026, 21:17 UTC
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Attack profile

The conditions required to exploit this vulnerability and its potential impact.

Attack vector Network
Attack complexity High
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability Low
Exploitability2.2
Impact1.4
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Affected products

Product applicability statements supplied with the NVD record.

NVD has not published structured affected-product data for this record.
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Weakness classification

CWE categories help security teams group the underlying software weakness.

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Source references

External advisories, patches and technical reports attached to this CVE record.