CVE-2026-9728
Published:August 24, 2026
Updated:September 24, 2026
The userspace syscall verifier z_vrfy_mbox_send() in drivers/mbox/mbox_handlers.c validated the nested msg->data/msg->size fields by reading them directly out of live userspace memory, and then forwarded the original, still-mutable userspace struct mbox_msg * pointer to z_impl_mbox_send() and the underlying driver. Between the access check and the driver's use of msg->data, the validated pointer could be replaced, leaving a time-of-check/time-of-use window.
On a system built with CONFIG_USERSPACE, any unprivileged userspace thread may invoke the mbox_send() system call. A second thread sharing the caller's address space can race to overwrite msg->data with a supervisor (kernel) address after the verifier's bounds check has passed but before the driver dereferences it. The driver then reads from the attacker-chosen address in supervisor context (for example memcpy(&data32, msg->data, msg->size) in the NXP mailbox driver, whose bytes are subsequently emitted to the peer mailbox endpoint).
The impact is a userspace-to-supervisor access-control bypass: disclosure of kernel memory contents (high confidentiality impact), or, for an invalid/unmapped target address, a faulting kernel read causing denial of service. The fix snapshots the entire struct mbox_msg into a kernel-stack copy with k_usermode_from_copy() and validates and forwards that immutable copy, closing the race.
Affected Packages
https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=v3.0.0 <v4.4.2Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v4.4.2Related Resources (5)
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Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
6.9
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
HIGH
Vulnerable System Integrity
NONE
Vulnerable System Availability
LOW
Subsequent System Confidentiality
HIGH
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
LOW
CVSS v3
Base Score:
6.4
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
LOW
Weakness Type (CWE)
Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
EPSS
Base Score:
0.08