{
    "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
    "dataVersion": "5.2",
    "cveMetadata": {
        "cveId": "CVE-2026-78118",
        "assignerOrgId": "e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad",
        "state": "PUBLISHED",
        "assignerShortName": "zephyr",
        "dateReserved": "2026-08-22T20:23:01.098Z",
        "datePublished": "2026-10-21T18:19:32.200Z",
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T21:28:10.701Z"
    },
    "containers": {
        "cna": {
            "providerMetadata": {
                "orgId": "e2e69745-5e70-4e92-8431-deb5529a81ad",
                "shortName": "zephyr",
                "dateUpdated": "2026-10-21T18:19:32.200Z"
            },
            "title": "Race condition on kernel wait queues: unlocked z_waitq_head() read in the timer expiration handler can yield a stale or sentinel thread pointer on SMP",
            "descriptions": [
                {
                    "lang": "en",
                    "value": "The kernel helper z_waitq_head() (kernel/include/wait_q.h) reads the head of a thread wait queue, but on SMP systems it was called from several places without holding the scheduler spinlock _sched_spinlock that serializes wait-queue mutation. The consequential call site is z_timer_expiration_handler() in kernel/timer.c, which held only the timer subsystem lock timer_lock while reading timer->wait_q and then unpending, setting the return value of, and readying the thread it obtained. halt_thread() in kernel/sched.c removes an aborted thread from its wait queue while holding only _sched_spinlock, so the two paths are not mutually exclusive.\n\nWhen the last waiter is removed on another CPU inside that window, sys_dlist_peek_head() can return the list sentinel — a pointer into the k_timer object itself — typed as a struct k_thread * (with CONFIG_WAITQ_SCALABLE, rb_get_min() can return an arbitrary node of a tree being restructured), or it can return a pointer to a thread that has already been unpended and, for dynamically allocated threads, freed. The handler then calls unpend_thread_no_timeout(), which performs a sys_dlist_remove() through pointers read from that object, and arch_thread_return_value_set(), which writes unconditionally through the pointer.\n\nThe result is out-of-bounds and use-after-free writes in supervisor context, plus scheduler state corruption; a milder outcome is a thread that has re-pended elsewhere being woken with a success return value from an unrelated blocking call. All of the primitives needed to drive the interleaving — k_timer_start(), k_timer_status_sync(), k_thread_create() and k_thread_abort() — are system calls, so with CONFIG_USERSPACE enabled an unprivileged user-mode thread can attempt the race against kernel-owned data.\n\nExploitation requires a multi-CPU build (CONFIG_MP_MAX_NUM_CPUS greater than one; the affected region is a no-op on uniprocessor targets), local code execution, and winning a narrow timing window, so the practical outcome is most often a kernel crash rather than controlled corruption. The fix splits the helper into z_waitq_head_locked() for callers that already hold the scheduler spinlock and a z_waitq_head() that acquires it, and brings the timer expiration handler's head read, unpend and ready under a single LOCK_SCHED_SPINLOCK region."
                }
            ],
            "affected": [
                {
                    "vendor": "zephyrproject",
                    "product": "zephyr",
                    "collectionURL": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr",
                    "packageName": "zephyr",
                    "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                    "programFiles": [
                        "kernel/include/wait_q.h",
                        "kernel/msg_q.c",
                        "kernel/mutex.c",
                        "kernel/sched.c",
                        "kernel/stack.c",
                        "kernel/timer.c",
                        "kernel/userspace/userspace.c"
                    ],
                    "programRoutines": [
                        {
                            "name": "z_timer_expiration_handler"
                        },
                        {
                            "name": "z_waitq_head"
                        }
                    ],
                    "versions": [
                        {
                            "version": "2.2.0",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "lessThan": "4.5.0",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "references": [
                {
                    "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/a9b21fb354e8468dd15db307c3e599dc68b7ef33",
                    "name": "Fix commit",
                    "tags": [
                        "patch"
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-gm6w-pv43-m3vf",
                    "name": "GHSA-gm6w-pv43-m3vf"
                }
            ],
            "metrics": [
                {
                    "format": "CVSS",
                    "cvssV3_1": {
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                        "baseScore": 7,
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH"
                    }
                }
            ],
            "problemTypes": [
                {
                    "descriptions": [
                        {
                            "lang": "en",
                            "description": "race",
                            "cweId": "CWE-362",
                            "type": "CWE"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "x_generator": {
                "engine": "cvelib 1.8.0"
            }
        },
        "adp": [
            {
                "metrics": [
                    {
                        "other": {
                            "type": "ssvc",
                            "content": {
                                "timestamp": "2026-10-23T20:45:38.419990Z",
                                "id": "CVE-2026-78118",
                                "options": [
                                    {
                                        "Exploitation": "none"
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "Automatable": "no"
                                    },
                                    {
                                        "Technical Impact": "total"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                                "version": "2.0.3"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                ],
                "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment",
                "providerMetadata": {
                    "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
                    "shortName": "CISA-ADP",
                    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T21:28:10.701Z"
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}