FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP MAC Address Validation Bypass Vulnerability

A vulnerability in FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP versions 4.0.0 through 4.2.5 and 4.3.0 through 4.4.0 allows an adjacent network device to bypass checksum and minimum-size validation in IPv4 and IPv6 packet processing. This is achieved by spoofing the Ethernet source MAC address to match one of the device's registered endpoints. The TCP stack's loopback detection mechanism then skips the usual input validation, potentially leading to improper packet handling.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability allows for the bypass of essential packet validation checks, which could be exploited to manipulate how packets are processed by the TCP/IP stack.

Remediation

Users are advised to upgrade to FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP versions 4.2.6 or 4.4.1, and to patch any forked or derivative code to incorporate these fixes.