AUGUST 14, 2026
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Case File

CVE-2026-12236

MEDIUM · CVSS 6.5 EPSS 0.10% Public Exploit

Source: NVD + CISA KEV + EPSS · Published 2026-08-13 · Last synced 2026-08-14

CyberRota Analysis

AI-Generated

The vulnerability affects the Bluetooth host's GATT client function, specifically during the discovery of standard characteristic descriptors, where it fails to validate the length of responses from a remote GATT server. An attacker can exploit this by sending a response with a length of zero, causing an infinite loop that leads to a denial of service for the Bluetooth subsystem. Organizations using Bluetooth-enabled devices, particularly those that initiate standard descriptor value discovery without proper authentication, should prioritize addressing this issue to prevent potential service disruptions.

Public Exploit Signal

A public exploit, PoC, GitHub repository or Metasploit reference was detected for this CVE.

Note: these links are listed for security research and verification purposes only.

CVE
CVE-2026-12236
Severity
MEDIUM
CVSS
6.5
EPSS
0.10%

Original NVD Description

The Bluetooth host GATT client function parse_read_std_char_desc() in subsys/bluetooth/host/gatt.c parses an ATT Read By Type Response received from a remote GATT server during BT_GATT_DISCOVER_STD_CHAR_DESC discovery. The per-entry stride rsp->len is taken directly from the peer's PDU, and the parse loop both tests its exit condition (length >= rsp->len) and advances (length -= rsp->len, pdu += rsp->len) using that value. The minimum value of rsp->len was never validated before the loop. A malicious or malfunctioning peer can reply with rsp->len = 0. Because length is unsigned and never decreases, the loop condition stays true forever and the read pointer never advances; as long as the body is at least a few bytes with a non-zero handle and a matching descriptor UUID, the host repeatedly re-parses the same bytes and invokes the discovery callback, never terminating. This hangs the Bluetooth host processing thread (CWE-835, loop with unreachable exit condition). The condition is reachable by any connected peer once the local device initiates standard-descriptor-value discovery; GATT discovery does not require bonding or encryption, so an unauthenticated adjacent attacker that the device connects to can trigger it. The impact is denial of service of the Bluetooth subsystem (and likely a watchdog reset on constrained targets); there is no memory disclosure or corruption. The fix adds a rsp->len < sizeof(struct bt_att_data) check before the loop, rejecting under-length responses so the stride is always non-zero and the loop terminates. The sibling parsers parse_include() and parse_characteristic() already validated rsp->len and are unaffected.