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Integer Underflow in ICMP Echo Reply Processing in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP

Moderate
archigup published GHSA-7r59-2pgv-9v2r Apr 29, 2026

Package

No package listed

Affected versions

>=V4.0.0 AND <=V4.2.5, >=V4.3.0 AND <=V4.4.0

Patched versions

V4.2.6, V4.4.1

Description

Summary
FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP is a lightweight TCP/IP stack for FreeRTOS. An issue exists where, under certain circumstances, an integer underflow in the ICMP and ICMPv6 echo reply handlers allows an adjacent network device to cause a denial of service in devices with memory protection.

Impact
When ipconfigSUPPORT_OUTGOING_PINGS is enabled (default is disabled) and IP header validation is bypassed, crafted ICMP and ICMPv6 Echo Reply packets can cause the library to subtract header sizes from a packet length field without validating the field is large enough. When the length field is smaller than the header size, the subtraction underflows, producing a large value used as a loop bound. This causes the function to read past the end of the network buffer.

On devices with memory protection, this results in a crash (denial of service). The out-of-bounds data is compared locally and not transmitted.

Impacted versions: >=V4.0.0 AND <=V4.2.5, >=V4.3.0 AND <=V4.4.0

Patches
This issue has been addressed in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP version V4.4.1 and V4.2.6. We recommend upgrading to the latest version and ensuring any forked or derivative code is patched to incorporate the new fixes.

Workarounds
This issue can be mitigated by disabling ipconfigSUPPORT_OUTGOING_PINGS or updating to an unaffected version of FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP.

References
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, we ask that you contact AWS Security via our vulnerability reporting page or directly via email to aws-security@amazon.com. Please do not create a public GitHub issue.

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVE ID

CVE-2026-7423

Weaknesses

No CWEs