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CVE-2026-12520

Stack buffer overflow and off-by-one writes in Zephyr HL7800 modem AT response handlers

6.4 Medium

The Sierra Wireless HL7800 cellular modem driver (drivers/modem/vendor_standalone/hl7800.c, located at drivers/modem/hl7800.c in v4.4.0 and earlier) parses AT responses with roughly twenty handlers that call net_buf_linearize(value, sizeof(value), *buf, 0, len) into a 128-byte stack buffer and then write value[out_len] = 0. Because net_buf_linearize() (lib/net_buf/buf.c) can return a count equal to its destination-length argument, a field that exactly fills the buffer makes the terminating NUL land one byte past the end, a single-byte out-of-bounds write into adjacent stack memory.

The +KCELLMEAS cell-measurement handler on_cmd_atcmdinfo_rssi() is worse: it passed the wire length len as the destination size (net_buf_linearize(value, len, *buf, 0, len)), so a response line longer than 128 bytes overflows the value stack buffer with attacker-influenceable content. The line length comes from net_buf_findcrlf(), which accumulates bytes across the whole net_buf fragment chain and is not bounded to 128, so an over-long line reaches the defect.

The data originates from the cellular modem over UART, driven by the network: operator-scan results, +CGCONTRDP IP/DNS info, socket indications, and +KCELLMEAS neighbour-cell reports. An attacker able to shape what the modem emits — a rogue base station, a compromised modem baseband, or a remote peer feeding oversized response framing — can drive a line past 128 bytes. The handlers run in the driver's RX thread in kernel context, so the corruption is kernel-side.

The +KCELLMEAS path is a full stack buffer overflow whose worst case is code execution in kernel context and whose floor is a reliable crash; the remaining sites are single-byte NUL out-of-bounds writes. Exploitation requires the modem to emit an over-long AT response line, giving high attack complexity over an adjacent (cellular radio) vector. The fix passes sizeof(dst) - 1 (and correct explicit bounds for the IMSI and +KCELLMEAS sites) so the terminator always stays in bounds.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Adjacent network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.29%Up 0.1 points since Aug 19, 2026
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 6.4

Stack buffer overflow and off-by-one writes in Zephyr HL7800 modem AT response handlers

The Sierra Wireless HL7800 cellular modem driver (drivers/modem/vendor_standalone/hl7800.c, located at drivers/modem/hl7800.c in v4.4.0 and earlier) parses AT responses with roughly twenty handlers that call net_buf_linearize(value, sizeof(value), *buf, 0, len) into a 128-byte stack buffer and then write value[out_len] = 0. Because net_buf_linearize() (lib/net_buf/buf.c) can return a count equal to its destination-length argument, a field that exactly fills the buffer makes the terminating NUL land one byte past the end, a single-byte out-of-bounds write into adjacent stack memory.

The +KCELLMEAS cell-measurement handler on_cmd_atcmdinfo_rssi() is worse: it passed the wire length len as the destination size (net_buf_linearize(value, len, *buf, 0, len)), so a response line longer than 128 bytes overflows the value stack buffer with attacker-influenceable content. The line length comes from net_buf_findcrlf(), which accumulates bytes across the whole net_buf fragment chain and is not bounded to 128, so an over-long line reaches the defect.

The data originates from the cellular modem over UART, driven by the network: operator-scan results, +CGCONTRDP IP/DNS info, socket indications, and +KCELLMEAS neighbour-cell reports. An attacker able to shape what the modem emits — a rogue base station, a compromised modem baseband, or a remote peer feeding oversized response framing — can drive a line past 128 bytes. The handlers run in the driver's RX thread in kernel context, so the corruption is kernel-side.

The +KCELLMEAS path is a full stack buffer overflow whose worst case is code execution in kernel context and whose floor is a reliable crash; the remaining sites are single-byte NUL out-of-bounds writes. Exploitation requires the modem to emit an over-long AT response line, giving high attack complexity over an adjacent (cellular radio) vector. The fix passes sizeof(dst) - 1 (and correct explicit bounds for the IMSI and +KCELLMEAS sites) so the terminator always stays in bounds.

Record
CVE-2026-12520
CVSS 3.1
6.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-04
EUVDEUVD-2026-61175 6.4

The Sierra Wireless HL7800 cellular modem driver (drivers/modem/vendor_standalone/hl7800.c, located at drivers/modem/hl7800.c in v4.4.0 and earlier) parses AT responses with roughly twenty handlers that call net_buf_linearize(value, sizeof(value), *buf, 0, len) into a 128-byte stack buffer and then write value[out_len] = 0. Because net_buf_linearize() (lib/net_buf/buf.c) can return a count equal to its destination-length argument, a field that exactly fills the buffer makes the terminating NUL land one byte past the end, a single-byte out-of-bounds write into adjacent stack memory.

The +KCELLMEAS cell-measurement handler on_cmd_atcmdinfo_rssi() is worse: it passed the wire length len as the destination size (net_buf_linearize(value, len, *buf, 0, len)), so a response line longer than 128 bytes overflows the value stack buffer with attacker-influenceable content. The line length comes from net_buf_findcrlf(), which accumulates bytes across the whole net_buf fragment chain and is not bounded to 128, so an over-long line reaches the defect.

The data originates from the cellular modem over UART, driven by the network: operator-scan results, +CGCONTRDP IP/DNS info, socket indications, and +KCELLMEAS neighbour-cell reports. An attacker able to shape what the modem emits — a rogue base station, a compromised modem baseband, or a remote peer feeding oversized response framing — can drive a line past 128 bytes. The handlers run in the driver's RX thread in kernel context, so the corruption is kernel-side.

The +KCELLMEAS path is a full stack buffer overflow whose worst case is code execution in kernel context and whose floor is a reliable crash; the remaining sites are single-byte NUL out-of-bounds writes. Exploitation requires the modem to emit an over-long AT response line, giving high attack complexity over an adjacent (cellular radio) vector. The fix passes sizeof(dst) - 1 (and correct explicit bounds for the IMSI and +KCELLMEAS sites) so the terminator always stays in bounds.

Record
EUVD-2026-61175
CVSS 3.1
6.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Updated
2026-11-04
NVD 6.4

The Sierra Wireless HL7800 cellular modem driver (drivers/modem/vendor_standalone/hl7800.c, located at drivers/modem/hl7800.c in v4.4.0 and earlier) parses AT responses with roughly twenty handlers that call net_buf_linearize(value, sizeof(value), *buf, 0, len) into a 128-byte stack buffer and then write value[out_len] = 0. Because net_buf_linearize() (lib/net_buf/buf.c) can return a count equal to its destination-length argument, a field that exactly fills the buffer makes the terminating NUL land one byte past the end, a single-byte out-of-bounds write into adjacent stack memory.

The +KCELLMEAS cell-measurement handler on_cmd_atcmdinfo_rssi() is worse: it passed the wire length len as the destination size (net_buf_linearize(value, len, *buf, 0, len)), so a response line longer than 128 bytes overflows the value stack buffer with attacker-influenceable content. The line length comes from net_buf_findcrlf(), which accumulates bytes across the whole net_buf fragment chain and is not bounded to 128, so an over-long line reaches the defect.

The data originates from the cellular modem over UART, driven by the network: operator-scan results, +CGCONTRDP IP/DNS info, socket indications, and +KCELLMEAS neighbour-cell reports. An attacker able to shape what the modem emits — a rogue base station, a compromised modem baseband, or a remote peer feeding oversized response framing — can drive a line past 128 bytes. The handlers run in the driver's RX thread in kernel context, so the corruption is kernel-side.

The +KCELLMEAS path is a full stack buffer overflow whose worst case is code execution in kernel context and whose floor is a reliable crash; the remaining sites are single-byte NUL out-of-bounds writes. Exploitation requires the modem to emit an over-long AT response line, giving high attack complexity over an adjacent (cellular radio) vector. The fix passes sizeof(dst) - 1 (and correct explicit bounds for the IMSI and +KCELLMEAS sites) so the terminator always stays in bounds.

Record
CVE-2026-12520
CVSS 3.1
6.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-04
OSV 6.4

Stack buffer overflow and off-by-one writes in Zephyr HL7800 modem AT response handlers

The Sierra Wireless HL7800 cellular modem driver (drivers/modem/vendor_standalone/hl7800.c, located at drivers/modem/hl7800.c in v4.4.0 and earlier) parses AT responses with roughly twenty handlers that call net_buf_linearize(value, sizeof(value), *buf, 0, len) into a 128-byte stack buffer and then write value[out_len] = 0. Because net_buf_linearize() (lib/net_buf/buf.c) can return a count equal to its destination-length argument, a field that exactly fills the buffer makes the terminating NUL land one byte past the end, a single-byte out-of-bounds write into adjacent stack memory.

The +KCELLMEAS cell-measurement handler on_cmd_atcmdinfo_rssi() is worse: it passed the wire length len as the destination size (net_buf_linearize(value, len, *buf, 0, len)), so a response line longer than 128 bytes overflows the value stack buffer with attacker-influenceable content. The line length comes from net_buf_findcrlf(), which accumulates bytes across the whole net_buf fragment chain and is not bounded to 128, so an over-long line reaches the defect.

The data originates from the cellular modem over UART, driven by the network: operator-scan results, +CGCONTRDP IP/DNS info, socket indications, and +KCELLMEAS neighbour-cell reports. An attacker able to shape what the modem emits — a rogue base station, a compromised modem baseband, or a remote peer feeding oversized response framing — can drive a line past 128 bytes. The handlers run in the driver's RX thread in kernel context, so the corruption is kernel-side.

The +KCELLMEAS path is a full stack buffer overflow whose worst case is code execution in kernel context and whose floor is a reliable crash; the remaining sites are single-byte NUL out-of-bounds writes. Exploitation requires the modem to emit an over-long AT response line, giving high attack complexity over an adjacent (cellular radio) vector. The fix passes sizeof(dst) - 1 (and correct explicit bounds for the IMSI and +KCELLMEAS sites) so the terminator always stays in bounds.

Record
CVE-2026-12520
CVSS 3.1
6.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Weakness
CWE-787
Updated
2026-11-05

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
factsCVE List
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2026-12520 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.4) in Zephyrproject Zephyr, published August 18, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.29%, the 21st percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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