5.9 MEDIUM
- CVSS version (CVSS): 3.1
- Attack Vector (AV): Network (N)
- Attack Complexity (AC): High (H)
- Privileges Required (PR): None (N)
- User Interaction (UI): None (N)
- Scope (S): Unchanged (U)
- Confidentiality (C): None (N)
- Integrity (I): None (N)
- Availability (A): High (H)
- Modified Attack Vector (MAV): Network (N)
- Modified Attack Complexity (MAC): High (H)
- Modified Privileges Required (MPR): None (N)
- Modified User Interaction (MUI): None (N)
- Modified Confidentiality (MC): None (N)
- Modified Scope (MS): Unchanged (U)
- Modified Integrity (MI): None (N)
- Modified Availability (MA): High (H)
by @LeSuisse Activity log
- Created suggestion
- @LeSuisse dismissed (not in Nixpkgs)
Uninitialized mutex in TLS trusted-credential backend causes kernel NULL-deref DoS under contention
The PSA Protected Storage credential backend (subsys/net/lib/tls_credentials/tls_credentials_trusted.c) declared its credential-store mutex as a plain zero-filled static struct k_mutex credential_lock; and never called k_mutex_init() on it. A statically zero-filled k_mutex has an uninitialized wait queue (its dlist head/tail are NULL instead of the self-referential sentinels that k_mutex_init/K_MUTEX_DEFINE install). The uncontended lock path does not touch the wait queue, so the defect is latent and serialized use behaves correctly. When two execution contexts contend on the lock, k_mutex_lock() pends the blocking thread on the wait queue via z_pend_curr(), which calls sys_dlist_append() on the zeroed list and dereferences a NULL tail pointer (tail->next = node), faulting the kernel. The lock is held during TLS handshake credential loading and by all credential add/get/delete operations, so a deployment performing concurrent TLS handshakes (for example a server handling multiple simultaneous connections from a remote peer) or a credential-management operation concurrent with a handshake can trigger the dereference. The impact is a denial of service: a deterministic kernel panic / device reset on the first contention. There is no memory corruption beyond the NULL dereference and no confidentiality or integrity impact; mutual exclusion on the fast path remains correct. Exposure is limited to builds with CONFIG_TLS_CREDENTIALS_BACKEND_PROTECTED_STORAGE enabled (PSA Protected Storage / TF-M platforms); the default volatile RAM backend initializes its lock correctly and is unaffected. The fix initializes the mutex statically with K_MUTEX_DEFINE(credential_lock), providing a valid wait queue so the contended path no longer touches a NULL list.
References
Affected products
- <4.4.2
Matching in nixpkgs
pkgs.python313Packages.smoke-zephyr
Python utility collection
pkgs.python314Packages.smoke-zephyr
Python utility collection
pkgs.python313Packages.zephyr-python-api
Set of wrappers for Zephyr Scale (TM4J) REST API
pkgs.python314Packages.zephyr-python-api
Set of wrappers for Zephyr Scale (TM4J) REST API
pkgs.python313Packages.zephyr-test-management
Wrappers for both Zephyr Scale and Zephyr Squad (TM4J) REST APIs
Package maintainers
-
@fabaff Fabian Affolter <mail@fabian-affolter.ch>
-
@Steinhagen Viorel-Cătălin Răpițeanu <rapiteanu.catalin@gmail.com>