CVE-2026-16512

LOWPre-NVD 3.13.1—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This low-severity CVE scores 3.1 under a secondary CVSS source (NVD's own analysis pending). EPSS exploit probability: 0.2% (5th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, secondary
3.1EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.2%CVSS: 3.1Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

No fix is confirmed yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for the fix.

gptp_handle_msg() in subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp.c dereferenced the gPTP header returned by GPTP_HDR() and switched on hdr->message_type without first checking that the received frame carries at least sizeof(struct gptp_hdr) (34) bytes of payload. The header accessor gptp_get_hdr() deliberately never fails for a short buffer — it returns pkt->frags->data and leaves validation to its callers — so a truncated frame produced a header pointer covering memory beyond the received data. The per-message-type checks that follow do not compensate: GPTP_VALID_LEN() reduces to len > 60 once the Ethernet header has been pulled, which is false for every fixed-size gPTP message, so GPTP_CHECK_LEN() never rejects a truncated SYNC, FOLLOWUP, PDELAY_RESP or SIGNALING message.

The defect is reached by an unauthenticated peer on the same link sending an Ethernet frame with ethertype 0x88F7 to the PTP multicast address on an interface configured as a gPTP port, with CONFIG_NET_GPTP enabled. Because conformant Ethernet pads frames to 60 bytes, a payload shorter than 34 bytes generally requires a link that can deliver sub-minimum frames — for example the native_sim TAP driver (drivers/ethernet/eth_native_tap.c), which forwards whatever length the host device supplies, or a MAC configured to accept undersized frames.

The short packet is retained (net_pkt_ref() into rcvd_sync_ptr, rcvd_follow_up_ptr, rcvd_pdelay_resp_ptr or rcvd_announce_ptr) and later parsed by the media-dependent and media-independent state machines in subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp_md.c and subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp_mi.c, which read tens of further bytes and copy some of them (the announce priority vector, hdr->port_id) into state that is subsequently transmitted. Under the default fixed-size buffer allocator (CONFIG_NET_BUF_FIXED_DATA_SIZE, 128-byte fragments) the accesses stay inside the allocated fragment and disclose stale recycled buffer contents; under the experimental CONFIG_NET_BUF_VARIABLE_DATA_SIZE allocator, where fragments are heap-allocated at the exact frame length, they are genuine out-of-bounds reads. There is no write and no availability impact.

CVSS v3
3.1
EG Score
3.1LOWmedium confidence
EG Risk
14
EG Risk 14/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity31% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at every mission impact level.
Action: No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.
EPSS PROB
0.2%
EPSS %ILE
5th
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at every mission impact level.

No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

September 18, 2026

Last Modified

September 18, 2026

References (2)

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 17× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-10-03 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-03 06:20 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-01 19:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-30 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-30 09:00 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-29 15:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-28 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-27 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-27 11:41 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-09-26 15:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-09-24 14:15 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-09-21 16:56 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-09-18 17:26 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-09-18 16:49 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-09-18 15:24 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-09-18 14:34 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-18 14:34 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-16512?
CVE-2026-16512 is a low vulnerability published on September 18, 2026. gptphandlemsg() in subsys/net/l2/ethernet/gptp/gptp.c dereferenced the gPTP header returned by GPTPHDR() and switched on hdr->messagetype without first checking that the received frame carries at least sizeof(struct gptphdr) (34) bytes of payload. The header accessor gptpgethdr() deliberately never…
When was CVE-2026-16512 disclosed?
CVE-2026-16512 was first published on September 18, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-16512 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-16512 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (5th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-16512?
CVE-2026-16512 has a CVSS base score of 3.1 (a secondary CVSS source that NVD displays; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-16512?
No fix for CVE-2026-16512 is confirmed yet. Until one is published, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation — for example, keep it off the internet or limit it to trusted networks — and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.

Dependency Blast Radius

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