# CVE-2026-17053: SMBus callback-removal syscalls accept an unvalidated user pointer, letting user threads manipulate kernel callback state

Status: published. Published: 2026-10-01. Updated: 2026-11-04.

The SMBus driver API exposed smbus_smbalert_remove_cb() and smbus_host_notify_remove_cb() as Zephyr syscalls. Their verifiers in drivers/smbus/smbus_handlers.c validated only the dev argument with K_SYSCALL_OBJ(dev, K_OBJ_DRIVER_SMBUS) and forwarded the caller-supplied struct smbus_callback *cb pointer into kernel-mode driver code without any K_SYSCALL_MEMORY_READ/K_SYSCALL_MEMORY_WRITE validation. A companion change in 2023 had already removed the matching smbus_smbalert_set_cb() / smbus_host_notify_set_cb() syscalls for this reason, but the two removal syscalls were left exposed.

On a build with CONFIG_USERSPACE=y, CONFIG_SMBUS=y and a driver implementing the callback operations (drivers/smbus/intel_pch_smbus.c with CONFIG_SMBUS_INTEL_PCH_SMBALERT/CONFIG_SMBUS_INTEL_PCH_HOST_NOTIFY, or drivers/smbus/smbus_stm32.c with CONFIG_SMBUS_STM32_SMBALERT), any user-mode thread that has been granted the SMBus device object can invoke these syscalls with an arbitrary pointer. The value reaches smbus_callback_remove() in drivers/smbus/smbus_utils.h, which uses it as a node identity against the kernel's sys_slist_t of registered callbacks.

The consequence is that an unprivileged thread can unregister an SMBALERT or Host Notify callback that a supervisor-mode component registered, silently disabling alert handling for the rest of the system; because Zephyr images have fixed symbol addresses and the syscall returns 0 on a hit versus -ENOENT on a miss, the target address is both derivable and searchable. In builds with CONFIG_ASSERT=y the __ASSERT(callback->handler, ...) check additionally dereferences the caller-supplied address in supervisor mode, so a bogus pointer raises a kernel-mode fault and a fatal system error, and the fault/no-fault outcome discloses which addresses are mapped.

The fix removes both syscall entry points, demoting the two functions to ordinary static inline calls so that callback list manipulation is available only to supervisor-mode code. There is no impact on builds without CONFIG_USERSPACE, and no impact on configurations that do not enable an SMBus driver with SMBALERT or Host Notify support.

## Remediation

- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: CNA: zephyr) — https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/331df881a8b8cb4296699a8251c9fd74a4308f3d

## Affected products and versions

- zephyrproject / zephyr (zephyr): ≥ 3.4.0; < 4.3.2 (affected, semver); ≥ 4.4.0; < 4.4.2 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: zephyr

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 4.4 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L; source: CNA: zephyr

- CVSS 3.1: 4.4 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L; source: NVD: vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.09% as of 2026-11-03; percentile 0.42%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact partial; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-862

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/331df881a8b8cb4296699a8251c9fd74a4308f3d (CNA: zephyr; patch)

- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-hqh5-956f-5x2r (CNA: zephyr)

- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/commit/331df881a8b8cb4296699a8251c9fd74a4308f3d (vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org)

- https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-hqh5-956f-5x2r (vulnerabilities@zephyrproject.org)

## Provenance

- CNA: zephyr: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-17053; retrieved 2026-11-04; source updated 2026-11-04

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-17053; retrieved 2026-11-04; source updated 2026-11-04

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-17053; retrieved 2026-11-04; source updated Not reported

Revision: 6e87fd3964894ae833c453698c5158193742fdad5a14250de64fe90769850b0b

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-17053

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