Goal Reached Thanks to every supporter — we hit 100%!

Goal: 1000 CNY · Raised: 1336 CNY

100%

CVE-2026-15890— AEAD nonce reuse in Zephyr secure_storage ITS default nonce provider due to missing thread synchronization

Quick assessment

Affected
zephyrproject zephyr
Exploitation
No confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; assess based on exposure
Recommended action
Check the vendor advisory and references for a fixed version. If immediate upgrade is impossible, restrict exposure and increase monitoring.

The default AEAD nonce provider for the PSA Internal Trusted Storage transform module, secure_storage_its_transform_aead_get_nonce() in subsys/secure_storage/src/its/transform/aead_get.c, stores its nonce counter in unsynchronized function-local static variabl

CVSS 5.3 · Medium EPSS 0.06% · P0

Affected Version Matrix 2

VendorProduct Version RangeStatus
zephyrproject zephyr 4.0.0< 4.3.2 affected
4.4.0< 4.4.2 affected
Get alerts for future matching vulnerabilities Log in to subscribe

I. Basic Information for CVE-2026-15890

Vulnerability Information

Shenlong is analyzing...


Have questions about the vulnerability? See if Shenlong's analysis helps!
View Shenlong Deep Dive ↗

Although we use advanced large model technology, its output may still contain inaccurate or outdated information.Shenlong tries to ensure data accuracy, but please verify and judge based on the actual situation.

Vulnerability Title
AEAD nonce reuse in Zephyr secure_storage ITS default nonce provider due to missing thread synchronization
Source: CVE Program / CVE List V5
Vulnerability Description
The default AEAD nonce provider for the PSA Internal Trusted Storage transform module, secure_storage_its_transform_aead_get_nonce() in subsys/secure_storage/src/its/transform/aead_get.c, stores its nonce counter in unsynchronized function-local static variables (s_nonce and s_nonce_initialized). Every ITS write obtains its AES-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305 nonce here via secure_storage_its_transform_to_store(). Because the function held no lock, two threads calling it concurrently race on the shared statics: the initialization path (psa_generate_random() followed by memcpy()) and the non-atomic increment-then-copy path can each hand the same nonce value to two distinct encryption operations, and can lose increments so the counter repeats values it was designed never to repeat. The ITS layer (secure_storage_its_set() in subsys/secure_storage/src/its/implementation.c) performs no serialization of its own, so concurrent same-UID writes reach the racy provider directly. Reusing a nonce with the same key under AES-GCM or ChaCha20-Poly1305 is a catastrophic AEAD failure: it leaks the XOR of the two plaintexts (ITS routinely stores secrets, including PSA persistent keys) and, for GCM, exposes the authentication key, enabling forgery of stored entries. Because the AEAD key is derived per entry UID, the security-relevant collision is two concurrent writes to the same UID both receiving the same nonce; an adversary able to read the raw backing storage can then exploit the reuse. Both ITS store back-ends shipped with Zephyr, zms.c and the settings/NVS back-end in settings.c, are log-structured flash stores with deferred garbage collection, so an entry superseded by a rewrite remains physically present in the partition until its sector is reclaimed. Two same-UID writes that race therefore leave both ciphertexts readable in the raw image at once, which is the condition the nonce reuse needs to be exploitable. The trigger remains narrow: both built-in key providers (DEVICE_ID_HASH and ENTRY_UID_HASH) salt the derived key with the entry UID, so reuse across different UIDs is harmless, and the exposure requires an application that writes the same UID concurrently from two threads. The fix serializes the provider with a K_MUTEX_DEFINE(s_nonce_mutex) held for the duration of nonce generation.
Source: CVE Program / CVE List V5
CVSS Information
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
Source: CVE Program / CVE List V5
Vulnerability Type
在加密中重用Nonce与密钥对
Source: CVE Program / CVE List V5

Affected Products

Vendor Product Affected Versions CPE Subscribe
zephyrproject zephyr 4.0.0 ~ 4.3.2 -

II. Public POCs for CVE-2026-15890

# POC Description Source Link Shenlong Link
AI-Generated POC Premium

No public POC found.

Login to generate AI POC

III. Intelligence Information for CVE-2026-15890

登录查看更多情报信息。

Patches & Fixes for CVE-2026-15890 (1)

Other References for CVE-2026-15890 (1)

Same Patch Batch · zephyrproject · 2026-09-21 · 5 CVEs total

CVE-2026-17052 7.8 HIGH Missing user-pointer validation in tgpio_pin_read_ts_ec syscall handler allows arbitrary s
CVE-2026-17051 6.0 MEDIUM Out-of-bounds write in the Intel SEDI IPM driver from an unvalidated inbound doorbell leng
CVE-2026-17050 5.7 MEDIUM Double free of the USB host configuration descriptor when device enumeration fails
CVE-2026-17054 5.3 MEDIUM Out-of-bounds read and permanent loss of Wi-Fi reception in the ESP-hosted SPI driver's fr

IV. Related Vulnerabilities

V. Comments for CVE-2026-15890

No comments yet


Leave a comment