Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-1902 affects Zephyr's Bluetooth HCI host logic. A malicious or compromised HCI controller may cause the host to reuse a stale state reference, potentially crashing the device and, according to the record, possibly enabling host-layer code execution.
Executive priority
Prioritize this for Zephyr-based Bluetooth products, especially safety-sensitive or hard-to-recover devices. Business urgency is moderate because exploitation appears constrained, but denial of service could be operationally significant in embedded deployments.
Technical view
The issue is a dangling state reference in Zephyr's Bluetooth HCI connection creation handling. The host layer may fail to clear a global pointer after connection events, creating CWE-672 use-after-release style behavior. CVSS 3.1 is 5.9 with adjacent access, high complexity, low privileges, and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in Zephyr-based systems using the Bluetooth HCI host layer where the HCI controller is malicious, compromised, or not fully trusted. The supplied bundle does not identify specific device models, Zephyr releases, or configurations beyond Zephyr.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show known active exploitation, and KEV is false. The described attacker position is a malicious HCI controller, with adjacent attack vector, high complexity, and low required privileges. Treat this mainly as a crash risk unless vendor guidance confirms broader exploitability.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE metadata and Zephyr security advisory reference in the supplied bundle. Do not assume affected configurations, fixed releases, or exploit availability without reviewing the full GHSA and Zephyr commit history.
Mitigation direction
- Review the Zephyr GHSA for fixed versions or mitigations before changing production systems.
- Inventory products and firmware that include Zephyr Bluetooth HCI host functionality.
- Update affected Zephyr builds when vendor-supported patches are identified.
- Reduce trust exposure to external or replaceable HCI controllers where practical.
- Monitor affected devices for unexpected Bluetooth host crashes or resets.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether each product uses Zephyr and the Bluetooth HCI host layer.
- Map firmware builds to Zephyr versions or commits used in production.
- Check whether the HCI controller is external, replaceable, or separately updatable.
- Verify remediation against Zephyr advisory guidance once fixed versions are known.
- Review crash telemetry for Bluetooth HCI connection-event failures.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-672: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-1902 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.9 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H1.24.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.9MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Source materials
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release
Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.