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ZephyrOperating system · Zephyrproject

CVE-2020-10065

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.2.0 or later.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Missing Size Checks in Bluetooth HCI over SPI. Zephyr versions >= v1.14.2, >= v2.2.0 contain Improper Handling of Length Parameter Inconsistency (CWE-130). For more information, see https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/security/advisories/GHSA-hg2w-62p6-g67c

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The Zephyr RTOS Bluetooth HCI driver for SPI lacks proper size validation when processing incoming data packets. This improper handling of length parameter inconsistency (CWE-130) in the SPI communication path could allow an attacker to trigger buffer overflows or memory corruption by sending specially crafted HCI packets with malformed length fields.

MitigationUpgrade Zephyr to a version containing the fix (v1.14.3+, v2.3.0+). Alternatively, implement input validation for all SPI HCI packet length fields before processing.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ZephyrOperating system
Affected:<= 1.14.2>= 2.0.0, <= 2.2.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Zephyr version in use
    Check the Zephyr kernel version at runtime via kERNEL_VERSION or in the build configuration (CONFIG_ZEPHYR_VERSION or zephyr_version in CMakeLists.txt or dts). Compare against affected ranges: <=1.14.2 or >=2.0.0 through <=2.2.0
    Affected if The installed Zephyr version falls within <=1.14.2 or >=2.0.0 to <=2.2.0
  2. Confirm Bluetooth HCI SPI driver is enabled
    Inspect the build configuration for CONFIG_BT_HCI (Bluetooth HCI) and CONFIG_BT_SPI (Bluetooth HCI over SPI) set to y. Check device tree for an SPI node with a Bluetooth HCI compatible property
    Affected if CONFIG_BT_SPI is enabled and the device tree contains an SPI-connected Bluetooth device using the HCI driver
  3. Verify SPI HCI packet handling code is present
    Locate and examine the file drivers/bluetooth/hci/hci_spi.c (or equivalent path in the codebase). Search for the function handling incoming HCI packet data, specifically the length field parsing logic
    Affected if The SPI HCI driver source file exists and processes incoming packets without validating the length field against buffer bounds
  4. Check for length field validation in HCI SPI handler
    Review the code that reads the HCI packet header from SPI (typically the first 3 bytes containing packet indicator and length). Look for bounds checking logic before copying data into fixed-size buffers
    Affected if The code copies data based on the length field from the SPI packet without verifying it does not exceed the destination buffer size (CWE-130)

You are affected if your Zephyr version is 1.14.2 or earlier, or between 2.0.0 and 2.2.0, AND the Bluetooth HCI over SPI driver is enabled with the vulnerable length validation code present.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.2.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Zephyr to a version containing the fix (v1.14.3+, v2.3.0+). Alternatively, implement input validation for all SPI HCI packet length fields before processing.

Recommended fix High confidence

Zephyr v2.3.0 (or v1.14.3 for the 1.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify your current Zephyr version using your build system or manifest file
  2. 2. Update your Zephyr manifest or repository to reference Zephyr v2.3.0 or later (or v1.14.3 if remaining on the 1.x branch)
  3. 3. Regenerate your build configuration by cleaning and re-running cmake
  4. 4. Rebuild your application with the updated Zephyr version
  5. 5. Verify the Bluetooth HCI over SPI functionality works correctly with the new version
Caveat Minimal - this is a security fix for missing size checks; verify Bluetooth SPI functionality in your specific hardware setup

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Zephyr Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10065 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data