7.5
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2024-53980
Spoofed length byte traps CC2538 in endless loop
Description

RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to `AUTO_ACK`, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state `CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK`. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the `TXACKDONE` event will not fire. It will then never return to the state `CC2538_STATE_READY` since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not `CC2538_STATE_READY`. A fix has not yet been made.

INFO

Published Date :

Nov. 29, 2024, 7:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Sept. 5, 2025, 1:57 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2024-53980 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Riot-os riot
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 4.0 MEDIUM [email protected]
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2024-53980 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2024-53980 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2024-53980 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2024-53980 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Sep. 05, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:riot-os:riot:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (including) 2024.07
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L183 Types: Product
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L417 Types: Product
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L419 Types: Product
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L421-L422 Types: Product
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/sys/net/link_layer/ieee802154/submac.c#L149 Types: Product
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/20998 Types: Issue Tracking, Patch
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/security/advisories/GHSA-m75q-8vj8-wppw Types: Exploit, Vendor Advisory
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Nov. 29, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description RIOT is an open-source microcontroller operating system, designed to match the requirements of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other embedded devices. A malicious actor can send a IEEE 802.15.4 packet with spoofed length byte and optionally spoofed FCS, which eventually results into an endless loop on a CC2538 as receiver. Before PR #20998, the receiver would check for the location of the CRC bit using the packet length byte by considering all 8 bits, instead of discarding bit 7, which is what the radio does. This then results into reading outside of the RX FIFO. Although it prints an error when attempting to read outside of the RX FIFO, it will continue doing this. This may lead to a discrepancy in the CRC check according to the firmware and the radio. If the CPU judges the CRC as correct and the radio is set to `AUTO_ACK`, when the packet requests and acknowledgment the CPU will go into the state `CC2538_STATE_TX_ACK`. However, if the radio judged the CRC as incorrect, it will not send an acknowledgment, and thus the `TXACKDONE` event will not fire. It will then never return to the state `CC2538_STATE_READY` since the baseband processing is still disabled. Then the CPU will be in an endless loop. Since setting to idle is not forced, it won't do it if the radio's state is not `CC2538_STATE_READY`. A fix has not yet been made.
    Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
    Added CWE CWE-835
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L183
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L417
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L419
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/cpu/cc2538/radio/cc2538_rf_radio_ops.c#L421-L422
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/1a418ccfedeb79dbce1d79f49e63a28906184794/sys/net/link_layer/ieee802154/submac.c#L149
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/20998
    Added Reference https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/security/advisories/GHSA-m75q-8vj8-wppw
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 6.9
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Attack Requirements
Privileges Required
User Interaction
VS Confidentiality
VS Integrity
VS Availability
SS Confidentiality
SS Integrity
SS Availability
Base CVSS Score: 7.5
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact