CVE-2026-12363: Out-of-bounds write in LoRaWAN fragmented transport from a fragment index of 0

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.2 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-14 · updated 2026-08-26
Weakness: CWE-787

Description

The LoRaWAN Fragmented Data Block Transport service (subsys/lorawan/services/frag_transport.c) does not validate the fragment counter in a received DATA_FRAGMENT command before forwarding it to the configured decoder. In frag_transport_package_callback() the value frag_counter = hdr->frag_index_n & 0x3FFF is taken directly from the downlink payload and passed to the decoder, which derives an array index and flash offset as frag_counter - 1. DataFragment fragments are 1-indexed, so a frag_counter of 0 underflows that arithmetic. With the default Semtech/LoRaMAC-node decoder, this reaches FragDecoder.FragNbMissingIndex[fragCounter - 1] = 0; in FragDecoderProcess(), where fragCounter - 1 evaluates to -1 and writes a uint16_t zero out of bounds, just before the array and into the adjacent MatrixM2B recovery-matrix state of the static decoder object (CWE-787). A companion write derives a wild flash offset, but that path is rejected by the flash_area_write() bounds check. The in-tree low-memory decoder (frag_dec()) is not corrupted: its out-of-range bit-array and flash accesses are caught by sys_bitarray_ and flash_area_ bounds checks. The handler is the registered downlink callback for the fragmentation transport port, reachable whenever an active fragmentation session exists, so the triggering byte is attacker-influenceable LoRaWAN/FUOTA network input. Triggering it requires authenticated downlinks (LoRaWAN MAC session keys or a malicious/compromised network or FUOTA server) and an active fragmentation session. The impact is contained: corruption of decoder state and denial of the firmware-update (FUOTA) session rather than controllable memory corruption or code execution. The fix adds a transport-layer check that rejects frag_counter == 0, closing the defect for both decoder backends.

Affected products

zephyrproject zephyr: from 3.7.0 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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