{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ranges": [
        {
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "REFERENCES"
          },
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "59cf34bf212eeb5c7ea88b97e15842b1e7c1a6b7"
            }
          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr",
          "type": "GIT"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "GHSA-rhmh-r93p-6g99"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cna_assigner": "zephyr",
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-416"
    ],
    "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/12xxx/CVE-2026-12365.json",
    "unresolved_ranges": [
      {
        "extracted_events": [
          {
            "introduced": "2.6.0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "4.5.0"
          }
        ],
        "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD"
      }
    ]
  },
  "details": "A use-after-free exists in the Zephyr second-generation work queue (kernel/work.c) in the handling of delayable work timeouts. When a delayable work item's timeout has been dequeued and its handler work_timeout() is in flight (blocked acquiring the work-queue spinlock), a concurrent cancellation does not wait for that handler to finish. In unschedule_locked() the pre-fix code called z_abort_timeout(), which for an already-announcing record returns -EINVAL without removing it; cancel_async_locked() then observes the work as idle, so even k_work_cancel_delayable_sync() and k_work_flush_delayable() return without blocking on the in-flight handler.\n\nBecause those are the APIs the kernel header documents as the safe way to cancel before freeing a k_work_delayable, a caller that frees the object immediately after a successful sync cancel can race the still-pending handler. work_timeout() subsequently dereferences the freed record: it reads to-\u003edticks via z_is_timeout_handler_canceled() and, if the freed slot has been reused so the bail check fails, performs a read-modify-write of wp-\u003eflags (K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT) and submits work against a stale dw-\u003equeue pointer — a use-after-free read and write.\n\nThe k_work API is kernel-mode only (no __syscall entry point), so this is a kernel-internal concurrency defect rather than a userspace privilege escalation. Triggering it requires an SMP build and a subsystem that schedules and then frees (or reschedules) a delayable work item in the narrow window while its timeout is announcing; an attacker able to influence the timing of such teardown (for example via connection churn driving subsystem timers) has a plausible but probabilistic path. The impact is kernel memory corruption or crash (denial of service).\n\nThe fix makes unschedule_locked() wait, by spinning on z_try_abort_timeout() returning -EAGAIN while releasing and re-acquiring the work spinlock, until any in-flight handler completes before returning, and switches work_timeout() to atomic K_WORK_DELAYED_BIT ownership. This closes both the free-then-handler use-after-free and the related reschedule early-fire race.",
  "id": "CVE-2026-12365",
  "modified": "2026-08-16T03:31:06.431843332Z",
  "published": "2026-08-14T17:52:05.922Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/12xxx/CVE-2026-12365.json"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-rhmh-r93p-6g99"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12365"
    },
    {
      "type": "FIX",
      "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/59cf34bf212eeb5c7ea88b97e15842b1e7c1a6b7"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.9.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Use-after-free in Zephyr delayable work-queue cancellation under SMP timing race"
}