CVE-2026-72049
HighCVSS 7.1Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's legacy netlink interface for IEEE 802.15.4. The LLSEC dump operations in the IEEE802154_NL family lacked the required administrative permission flag, allowing any local user to read raw 16-byte AES-128 keys from the kernel key table. The issue affects only the legacy API, while the modern nl802154 family is properly secured.
Risk Assessment
A local unprivileged user can obtain LLSEC encryption keys, leading to full compromise of confidentiality and authenticity of 802.15.4 communications (e.g., Zigbee, Thread). An attacker can decrypt and forge frames, breaking the integrity of the entire network.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that adds the GENL_ADMIN_PERM flag to LLSEC dump operations in the legacy IEEE802154_NL family. Until the update, restrict access to wpan interfaces and monitor for any unauthorized netlink operations.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ieee802154: admin-gate legacy LLSEC dump operations In net/ieee802154/netlink.c, the legacy IEEE802154_NL family ops table builds the LLSEC dump entries (LLSEC_LIST_KEY, LLSEC_LIST_DEV, LLSEC_LIST_DEVKEY, LLSEC_LIST_SECLEVEL) with IEEE802154_DUMP() which sets no .flags, so generic netlink runs them ungated. The modern nl802154 family admin-gates the equivalent reads via NL802154_CMD_GET_SEC_KEY and friends with .flags = GENL_ADMIN_PERM. Any local uid that can open AF_NETLINK / NETLINK_GENERIC can resolve the "802.15.4 MAC" family and dump LLSEC_LIST_KEY on any wpan netdev that has an LLSEC key installed; the dump handler writes the raw 16-byte AES-128 key bytes (IEEE802154_ATTR_LLSEC_KEY_BYTES, copied verbatim from struct ieee802154_llsec_key.key) into the reply. Recovering the AES key compromises 802.15.4 LLSEC link confidentiality and authenticity, since LLSEC uses CCM* and the same key authenticates and encrypts frames. Impact: any local uid with no capabilities can read the raw 16-byte AES-128 LLSEC key from the kernel keytable on any wpan netdev that has an administrator-installed LLSEC key, by issuing an LLSEC_LIST_KEY dump on the legacy IEEE802154_NL generic-netlink family. Introduce IEEE802154_DUMP_PRIV() mirroring IEEE802154_DUMP() but setting .flags = GENL_ADMIN_PERM, and use it for the four LLSEC dump entries. LIST_PHY and LIST_IFACE retain IEEE802154_DUMP() because the modern nl802154 family exposes their equivalents to unprivileged readers by design (NL802154_CMD_GET_WPAN_PHY and NL802154_CMD_GET_INTERFACE carry "can be retrieved by unprivileged users" annotations).