Zephyr Project up to 4.4.1 PSA Protected Storage Credential Backend tls_credentials_trusted.c k_mutex_lock uninitialized variable

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Zephyr Project Zephyr up to 4.4.1 and classified as critical. Impacted is the function k_mutex_lock of the file subsys/net/lib/tls_credentials/tls_credentials_trusted.c of the component PSA Protected Storage Credential Backend. Such manipulation leads to uninitialized variable. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-12233. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Zephyr Project Zephyr up to 4.4.1. Affected by this issue is the function k_mutex_lock of the file subsys/net/lib/tls_credentials/tls_credentials_trusted.c of the component PSA Protected Storage Credential Backend. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a uninitialized variable vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-457. The code uses a variable that has not been initialized, leading to unpredictable or unintended results. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

The PSA Protected Storage credential backend (subsys/net/lib/tls_credentials/tls_credentials_trusted.c) declared its credential-store mutex as a plain zero-filled static struct k_mutex credential_lock; and never called k_mutex_init() on it. A statically zero-filled k_mutex has an uninitialized wait queue (its dlist head/tail are NULL instead of the self-referential sentinels that k_mutex_init/K_MUTEX_DEFINE install). The uncontended lock path does not touch the wait queue, so the defect is latent and serialized use behaves correctly. When two execution contexts contend on the lock, k_mutex_lock() pends the blocking thread on the wait queue via z_pend_curr(), which calls sys_dlist_append() on the zeroed list and dereferences a NULL tail pointer (tail->next = node), faulting the kernel. The lock is held during TLS handshake credential loading and by all credential add/get/delete operations, so a deployment performing concurrent TLS handshakes (for example a server handling multiple simultaneous connections from a remote peer) or a credential-management operation concurrent with a handshake can trigger the dereference. The impact is a denial of service: a deterministic kernel panic / device reset on the first contention. There is no memory corruption beyond the NULL dereference and no confidentiality or integrity impact; mutual exclusion on the fast path remains correct. Exposure is limited to builds with CONFIG_TLS_CREDENTIALS_BACKEND_PROTECTED_STORAGE enabled (PSA Protected Storage / TF-M platforms); the default volatile RAM backend initializes its lock correctly and is unaffected. The fix initializes the mutex statically with K_MUTEX_DEFINE(credential_lock), providing a valid wait queue so the contended path no longer touches a NULL list.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-12233 since 06/15/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 4.4.2 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Project Management Software

Vendor

• Zephyr Project

Name

• Zephyr

Version

• 4.4.0
• 4.4.1

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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