CVE-2026-11368
Received Received - Intake

Bluetooth Host ATT Layer Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-11368, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-04

Last updated on: 2026-08-04

Assigner: Zephyr Project

Description

The Bluetooth host ATT layer (subsys/bluetooth/host/att.c) associates each in-flight ATT TX buffer with its owning channel via the static tx_meta_data_storage[] array (data->att_chan = chan). When a buffer's last reference is dropped, its net-buf destroy callback defers the completion handling to the system workqueue (att_tx_destroy -> att_tx_destroy_work_handler -> att_on_sent_cb -> bt_att_sent), where bt_att_sent dereferences the channel and its ATT context (sys_slist_get(&att->reqs)). When a peer disconnects while an ATT PDU (a server notification/indication or any response) is still in flight in the controller TX path, L2CAP tears the channel down in l2cap_chan_del(): it runs the disconnected callback and then the released callback (bt_att_released), which frees the channel slab slot. Because the in-flight buffer is held by the connection TX path rather than the channel's own queue, its deferred destroy work can run after the channel has been freed. The att_on_sent_cb guard intended to drop the stale callback itself dereferences meta->att_chan, which is now a dangling pointer into a freed (and possibly reused) slab slot. A remote peer with an ATT connection can drive this by disconnecting during routine ATT traffic; no pairing or user interaction is required to reach the ATT bearer. The result is a use-after-free read/write of freed channel memory, reliably crashing the Bluetooth host (denial of service) and, because the channel slab slot may be reused, potentially corrupting live memory. The fix makes bt_att_released() NULL the att_chan field of every tx_meta_data_storage[] entry still referencing the channel before freeing it, so the deferred guard observes a NULL pointer and drops the callback. Teardown and the destroy work both run on the cooperative system workqueue, so the array update is serialized and needs no lock.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-04
Last Modified
2026-08-04
Generated
2026-08-04
AI Q&A
2026-08-04
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 3 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
zephyrproject zephyr 4.4.0
zephyrproject zephyr 4.4.1
zephyrproject zephyr *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-416 The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

CVE-2026-11368 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Zephyr RTOS Bluetooth Host stack. When a peer device disconnects during an ongoing data transfer, the Bluetooth Attribute Protocol (ATT) channel and its associated structures are prematurely freed. However, a deferred callback remains queued in the system workqueue, attempting to access the now-freed memory when executed. This leads to a system crash due to dereferencing a dangling pointer.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking for Bluetooth host crashes or memory corruption in Zephyr RTOS systems running affected versions. Monitor system logs for Bluetooth-related crashes or kernel panics. Use tools like `dmesg` or `journalctl` to inspect Bluetooth subsystem errors. Ensure your Zephyr RTOS version is not 4.4.0 or 4.4.1, as these versions are vulnerable.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause a denial of service by crashing the Bluetooth host. Additionally, if the freed channel memory is reused, it may corrupt live memory, potentially leading to further system instability or security issues. Exploitation requires no privileges or user interaction and can be triggered remotely via adjacent network access.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily causes denial of service by crashing the Bluetooth host, which could disrupt data processing or communication systems. While it does not directly expose data, prolonged disruption may impact availability requirements in GDPR or HIPAA. However, the provided context does not detail specific compliance impacts or data exposure risks.

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately update Zephyr RTOS to a patched version that includes the fix for CVE-2026-11368. If updating is not possible, disable Bluetooth functionality temporarily until the patch is applied. Monitor vendor advisories for updates and apply them promptly.

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