---
title: "CVE-2026-82961: Zephyr OS - Broken Access Control"
description: "Zephyr OS with CONFIG_USERSPACE=y contains a broken access control vulnerability caused by missing validation of GPIO pin arguments in gpio syscall handlers, letting user-mode threads with GPIO device access perform out-of-bounds kernel memory writes and reads, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or kernel crash, exploit requires user-mode thread with GPIO device access."
url: https://panop.io/threat-heartbeat/CVE-2026-82961/
---

# CVE-2026-82961 Zephyr OS - Broken Access Control

Zephyr OS with CONFIG\_USERSPACE=y contains a broken access control vulnerability caused by missing validation of GPIO pin arguments in gpio syscall handlers, letting user-mode threads with GPIO device access perform out-of-bounds kernel memory writes and reads, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or kernel crash, exploit requires user-mode thread with GPIO device access.

CVSS base score 7.8 /10

High

CISA KEV

Not listed

Public exploit

None known

Authentication

Required

[View the NVD record ↗](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-82961)

## Details

Type

Broken Access Control

Impact

Remote Code Execution, Denial Of Service, Data Tampering

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Published

28 October 2026

Updated

29 October 2026

Weakness

[CWE-787](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/787.html)

## Vendor fix

Update to a version with pin validation in gpio syscall handlers and range checks, or latest available version.

Patching closes this CVE. It does not tell you which of your systems run the affected version, or what else is exposed alongside them.

## References

- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-82961](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-82961)
- [https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-4f2x-8qw8-jjgf](https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-4f2x-8qw8-jjgf)
- [https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/020e83e06b35e98a4a3c2354f67e5eee3f163363](https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/020e83e06b35e98a4a3c2354f67e5eee3f163363)
- [https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/c9641fa5bfec44892e0cf2d84f78c7c60fca8ad6](https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/c9641fa5bfec44892e0cf2d84f78c7c60fca8ad6)
- [https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/d145faab7e3a8cea62a8fd7ed5f30ef73e762f59](https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/d145faab7e3a8cea62a8fd7ed5f30ef73e762f59)
- [https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/d28a05d5de4420f27ba3de7b9e4442fa056d51de](https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/d28a05d5de4420f27ba3de7b9e4442fa056d51de)

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## What this record can't tell you

- Whether you run the affected software, and where
- Whether an attacker can actually reach and exploit it
- The misconfigurations that never get a CVE number
- What it would cost the business, ranked into what to fix first

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