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CVE-2024-53980

Spoofed length byte traps CC2538 in endless loop

6.9 Medium

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

0.76%Up 0.7 points since Nov 30, 2024
90%50%10%1%

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 MediumCVSS: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 MediumCVSS: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 MediumCVSS: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 HighCVSS: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 MediumCVSS: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

History
RecordedChangedSources
factsOSV
aliases, publishedEUVD
first indexedCVE 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

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