Use-After-Free Vulnerability in Zephyr's IPv4 Stack Affects Packet Handling

CVE-2026-10639

What is CVE-2026-10639?

In the Zephyr operating system's IPv4 stack, a use-after-free vulnerability exists within the echo-request handling process. When an ICMP echo-reply packet is formed and subsequently sent, the system's packet handling mechanism allows the memory associated with that packet to be reclaimed before updating network statistics. This leads to the possibility of reading garbage values or even modifying memory that has been reallocated, potentially causing corrupted interface statistics or triggering a denial of service through a remote attack just by intercepting ping packets. The flaw has been present since version 1.14 and can be exploited without authentication.

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