{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2026-15891","assignerOrgId":"e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad","state":"PUBLISHED","assignerShortName":"zephyr","dateReserved":"2026-07-15T17:38:07.683Z","datePublished":"2026-09-13T22:46:15.222Z","dateUpdated":"2026-09-14T13:00:29.219Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad","shortName":"zephyr","dateUpdated":"2026-09-13T22:46:15.222Z"},"title":"NULL pointer dereference in Zephyr MQTT-SN client when removing a non-responsive gateway","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"The MQTT-SN client keepalive handler process_ping() in subsys/net/lib/mqtt_sn/mqtt_sn.c removes the gateway record after PINGREQ retries are exhausted. It invoked SYS_SLIST_PEEK_HEAD_CONTAINER(&client->gateways, gw, next) but discarded the result. That macro is a pure expression that does not assign to gw, so gw retained its NULL initializer regardless of the list contents.\n\nThe code then dereferences the NULL gw (gw->gw_id) and passes it to mqtt_sn_gw_destroy(), reaching k_mem_slab_free(&gateways, NULL). With CONFIG_MEM_SLAB_POINTER_VALIDATE enabled this triggers k_panic(); in the default configuration it performs a write through the NULL pointer ((char )mem = slab->free_list;) and corrupts the slab free list. The outcome is a crash/kernel panic or, on targets where address 0 is writable, silent memory-allocator corruption.\n\nThe vulnerable branch runs whenever the connected MQTT-SN gateway fails to answer keepalive PINGREQs for the configured number of retries. This condition is controlled by the remote peer: a malicious or compromised gateway, or an on-path/adjacent attacker that advertises itself as a gateway and then stops responding (or blackholes the real gateway's PINGRESPs), forces the client into the defect. MQTT-SN runs over UDP and no authentication is required.\n\nThe impact is a remotely triggerable denial of service (availability) of the affected MQTT-SN client; there is no attacker-controlled data written. The sibling remover process_advertise() uses SYS_SLIST_FOR_EACH_CONTAINER_SAFE and is not affected. The fix assigns the macro's return value to gw."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"zephyrproject","product":"zephyr","collectionURL":"https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr","packageName":"zephyr","defaultStatus":"unaffected","programFiles":["subsys/net/lib/mqtt_sn/mqtt_sn.c"],"programRoutines":[{"name":"process_ping"}],"versions":[{"version":"4.1.0","status":"affected","versionType":"semver","lessThan":"4.4.2"}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/bd21e954c36be105a374bbc090623810f1a17ee3","name":"Fix commit","tags":["patch"]},{"url":"https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-c4g8-4f9p-4746","name":"GHSA-c4g8-4f9p-4746"}],"metrics":[{"format":"CVSS","cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","baseScore":7.5,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"}}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","description":"memory-safety","cweId":"CWE-476","type":"CWE"}]}],"x_generator":{"engine":"cvelib 1.8.0"}},"adp":[{"metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"id":"CVE-2026-15891","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"Exploitation":"none"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"partial"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-09-14T12:55:24.444356Z"}}}],"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","providerMetadata":{"orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","shortName":"CISA-ADP","dateUpdated":"2026-09-14T13:00:29.219Z"}}]}}