CVE-2026-10677 PUBLISHED

Kernel heap memory leak in `z_vrfy_k_poll()` lets an unprivileged user thread exhaust the kernel resource pool

Assigner: zephyr
Reserved: 02.06.2026 Published: 21.07.2026 Updated: 21.07.2026

The CONFIG_USERSPACE syscall verifier z_vrfy_k_poll() in kernel/poll.c allocates a kernel-side copy of the user-supplied k_poll_event[] via z_thread_malloc() and then validates each event's object handle. Before this fix, validation used K_OOPS(K_SYSCALL_OBJ(...)) inline inside the loop, which kills the calling thread without freeing events_copy.

A user thread can pass num_events >= 1 with a forged object handle to leak the allocation; because newly spawned user threads inherit the parent's resource_pool (kernel/thread.c), an attacker spawns sacrificial threads to repeat the leak until the shared kernel heap is exhausted. Once depleted, legitimate kernel allocations from that pool (k_queue alloc nodes, k_msgq buffers, future k_poll calls, etc.) fail, causing a system-level denial of service.

The fix replaces each inline K_OOPS with a conditional goto oops_free so the buffer is freed before the thread is killed. Affects Zephyr releases from v1.12.0 (when k_poll was first exposed to user mode) through v4.4.1.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS Score: 6.5

Product Status

Vendor zephyrproject
Product zephyr
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1.12.0 to 4.5.0 (excl.)

References

Problem Types

  • dos CWE