CVE-2024-53980
Spoofed length byte traps CC2538 in endless loop
RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to AUTO_ACK, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the TXACKDONE event will not fire. It will then never return to the state CC2538_STATE_READY since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not CC2538_STATE_READY. A fix has not yet been made.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
6.9
Spoofed length byte traps CC2538 in endless loop
RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to AUTO_ACK, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the TXACKDONE event will not fire. It will then never return to the state CC2538_STATE_READY since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not CC2538_STATE_READY. A fix has not yet been made.
- Record
CVE-2024-53980- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-52226
6.9
RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to AUTO_ACK, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the TXACKDONE event will not fire. It will then never return to the state CC2538_STATE_READY since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not CC2538_STATE_READY. A fix has not yet been made.
- Record
EUVD-2024-52226- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
NVD
6.9
RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to AUTO_ACK, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the TXACKDONE event will not fire. It will then never return to the state CC2538_STATE_READY since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not CC2538_STATE_READY. A fix has not yet been made.
- Record
CVE-2024-53980- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
6.9
Spoofed length byte traps CC2538 in endless loop
RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to AUTO_ACK, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the TXACKDONE event will not fire. It will then never return to the state CC2538_STATE_READY since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not CC2538_STATE_READY. A fix has not yet been made.
- Record
CVE-2024-53980- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | OSV | |
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2024-53980 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.9) in Riot-os Riot, published November 29, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.76%, the 55th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/security/advisories/GHSA-m75q-8vj8-wppw
github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/20998
github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c
github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/sys/net/link_layer/ieee802154/submac.c
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/53xxx/CVE-2024-53980.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-53980