Local privilege escalation via forged device pointers
Published Aug 17, 2026 · Updated Aug 17, 2026
Privilege escalation in Zephyr RTOS before 4.4.2 allows local users to execute kernel code via forged flash_copy() device pointers. In drivers/flash/flash_util.c, z_vrfy_flash_copy() checks only the caller's output buffer and forwards user-controlled src_dev and dst_dev pointers into z_impl_flash_copy(), which dereferences them and calls their driver API tables in supervisor mode. Exploitation requires CONFIG_USERSPACE and a local user-mode thread; a forged struct device can escape the userspace sandbox, while invalid pointers can instead crash the kernel or expose out-of-bounds reads.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Zephyr RTOS before 4.4.2 allows local users to execute kernel code via forged flash_copy() device pointers. In drivers/flash/flash_util.c, z_vrfy_flash_copy() checks only the caller's output buffer and forwards user-controlled src_dev and dst_dev pointers into z_impl_flash_copy(), which dereferences them and calls their driver API tables in supervisor mode. Exploitation requires CONFIG_USERSPACE and a local user-mode thread; a forged struct device can escape the userspace sandbox, while invalid pointers can instead crash the kernel or expose out-of-bounds reads.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-9771
- Published
- Aug 17, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 17, 2026
- Vendor
- Zephyr Project
- Product
- Zephyr RTOS
- Classifications
- CWE-862, CWE-822, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 17, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.0.0 <4.4.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Zephyr flash_copy permission-bypass PoCproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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