CVE-2026-12999 zephyrproject CVE debrief

Who should care

Defenders responsible for Wi-Fi connectivity and security should assess exposure to this vulnerability. The vulnerability can be triggered by a Wi-Fi-adjacent attacker influencing the conditions that cause synchronous send failures.

Why it matters

The buffer leak vulnerability in the Infineon Airoc Wi-Fi driver's transmit callback can lead to a DoS condition, allowing a Wi-Fi-adjacent attacker to influence the conditions that cause synchronous send failures. Defenders responsible for Wi-Fi connectivity and security should assess exposure to this vulnerability and implement compensating controls to detect and respond to potential attacks.

• Denial-of-service (DoS) condition due to buffer leak
• Permanent and non-recoverable DoS without a reboot
• Potential for Wi-Fi connectivity loss

Technical summary

The Infineon Airoc Wi-Fi driver's transmit callback airoc_mgmt_send() allocates a net_buf from the fixed airoc_pool for every outbound packet. When whd_network_send_ethernet_data() returns a synchronous failure, the underlying WHD library does not take ownership of the buffer, but the pre-fix driver returned -EIO without releasing it. Each failed transmit therefore permanently leaks one buffer from the pool.

Defensive priority

Medium

Recommended defensive actions

• Review and apply the available patch to fix the buffer leak vulnerability
• Monitor Wi-Fi connectivity for potential DoS conditions
• Implement compensating controls to detect and respond to potential attacks
• Confirm whether affected product deployments exist in managed environments and assign an owner for follow-up
• Review the supplied official advisory or CVE record to validate affected scope, severity, and vendor guidance
• Plan vendor-supported updates or mitigations through normal change control where exposure is confirmed
• Check relevant monitoring, detection, and logs for exposed assets that need extra review

Evidence notes

The vulnerability is caused by a buffer leak in the Infineon Airoc Wi-Fi driver's transmit callback. The driver's failure to release a buffer in case of a synchronous send failure can lead to a DoS condition. The vulnerability can be triggered by a Wi-Fi-adjacent attacker influencing the conditions that cause synchronous send failures.

Sources and references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.