ZephyrProject Zephyr up to 4.4.1 I3C IBI subsystem i3c_ibi_workq.c i3c_ibi_work_handler memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in ZephyrProject Zephyr up to 4.4.1 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function i3c_ibi_work_handler of the file drivers/i3c/i3c_ibi_workq.c of the component I3C IBI subsystem. Executing a manipulation can lead to memory corruption. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-14367. The attack requires local access. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in ZephyrProject Zephyr up to 4.4.1 and classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects the function i3c_ibi_work_handler of the file drivers/i3c/i3c_ibi_workq.c of the component I3C IBI subsystem. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. As an impact it is known to affect integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The I3C IBI subsystem in drivers/i3c/i3c_ibi_workq.c hands out statically-allocated work nodes through a free-list i3c_ibi_work_nodes_free implemented as a plain sys_slist_t, which provides no synchronization. The allocation helpers (i3c_ibi_work_enqueue, i3c_ibi_work_enqueue_target_irq, i3c_ibi_work_enqueue_hotjoin, i3c_ibi_work_enqueue_controller_request, i3c_ibi_work_enqueue_cb) called sys_slist_get() directly from ISR context, while the workqueue handler i3c_ibi_work_handler() returned nodes with sys_slist_append() from the workqueue thread, with no lock on either side. Because sys_slist_get() and sys_slist_append() are neither atomic nor interrupt-safe, an IBI interrupt that fires while the workqueue thread is mid-append (or a truly parallel access under CONFIG_SMP) races on the shared list. This corrupts the list linkage: a node may be handed to two consumers, a node may be lost, or the head/tail pointers may be left inconsistent so sys_slist_get() returns a stale or garbage pointer. In the double-hand-out case the subsequent memcpy(ibi_node, ibi_work, sizeof(*ibi_node)) overwrites a node still in flight; a garbage pointer turns the same memcpy into an out-of-bounds write. The race is driven by I3C bus traffic — IBIs, hot-joins, and controller-role requests originate from target devices on the bus, and I3C supports hot-joining devices. An attacker controlling an I3C peripheral on the board's chip-to-chip bus can generate high-frequency interrupts timed to collide with the free operation. Exploitation requires physical access to the bus and winning a narrow timing window; the most realistic impact is a crash or hang (denial of service), with memory corruption possible but hard to control. The fix wraps all free-list sys_slist_get()/sys_slist_append() operations in the new ibi_work_alloc()/ibi_work_free() helpers, each guarded by a k_spinlock (ibi_work_lock), closing the race across ISR and thread contexts.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-14367 since 07/01/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 4.4.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e87e7e2ac7c5ded0af3fb5934518cc5688e458cc is able to eliminate this problem.

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Type

• Project Management Software

Vendor

• ZephyrProject

Name

• Zephyr

Version

• 4.4.0
• 4.4.1

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Discussion