CVE-2026-11809

LOW CVSS 3.1: 3.7
Updated Aug 11, 2026
Payload
Parameter Value
CVSS 3.7 (LOW)
Type CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)
Vendor Payload
Public PoC No

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_DTLSon-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.

Attack Parameters

Attack Vector
Network
Can be exploited remotely
Attack Complexity
High
Difficult to exploit
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed

Impact Assessment

Confidentiality
None
No data leak
Integrity
None
No data modification
Availability
Low
Partial disruption

CVSS Vector v3.1