A critical stack-based buffer overflow in PX4-Autopilot exposes drone flight control systems to remote service disruption and potential memory corruption.

The vulnerability is a stack-based buffer overflow (CWE-121) occurring because the Zenoh uORB subscriber allocates a stack variable length array (VLA) based on unvalidated payload lengths. An attacker with local access, or potentially remote access depending on network configuration, can trigger a stack overflow by sending an oversized fragmented message.

The exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to the crash of the Zenoh bridge task, resulting in a loss of flight control telemetry or system instability. Given the CVSS score of 7.8, this poses a significant risk to the operational integrity and safety of drone hardware, potentially causing mission failure or physical damage to the equipment.

Immediate Action: Update the PX4-Autopilot firmware to version 1.17.0-rc2 or later to apply the necessary bounds checking on incoming payloads.

Proactive Monitoring: Monitor system logs for unexpected task crashes or memory-related error signals originating from the Zenoh bridge component.

Compensating Controls: Restrict network access to the Zenoh service interface to trusted entities only, effectively reducing the attack surface for remote malicious publishers.

Public Exploit Available: No — there is no confirmed public exploit or weaponized PoC available in the provided data.

Due to the potential for service disruption in critical flight control components, organizations deploying PX4-Autopilot must prioritize patching to version 1.17.0-rc2. While no active exploitation is confirmed, the existence of a proof-of-concept mandates prompt remediation to ensure the continued stability and safety of drone operations.