CVE-2026-10685: Use-after-free of GATT subscribe params in Bluetooth host CCC-write response handler

Severity: high (CVSS 7.6 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-07-31 · updated 2026-10-23
Weakness: CWE-416

Description

The Zephyr Bluetooth GATT client CCC-write response handler gatt_write_ccc_rsp() in subsys/bluetooth/host/gatt.c invoked the application's params->subscribe() callback after it had already called params->notify(conn, params, NULL, 0). Per the public GATT API, a notify callback with NULL data is the documented signal that the subscription has terminated and the bt_gatt_subscribe_params struct may be freed or reused by the application; calling subscribe() on the struct afterwards is a use-after-free, including an indirect call through the freed params->subscribe function pointer. The error branch is remotely (adjacent) reachable: a Zephyr device acting as a GATT client that calls bt_gatt_subscribe() can be driven into this ordering when a connected GATT server peer answers the CCC write with an ATT Error Response (the peer-supplied error code flows through att_error_rsp -> att_handle_rsp into gatt_write_ccc_rsp). For applications that free or recycle subscription parameters in their notification-termination handler, this results in memory corruption, a crash (denial of service), or potentially attacker-influenced control flow. The fix reorders the handler so the subscribe() callback runs before the terminating notify(NULL) in both the error and unsubscribe paths.

Affected products

zephyrproject zephyr: from 2.4.0 before 4.5.0 — fixed in 4.5.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: zephyrproject zephyr 4.5.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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