CVE-2026-11835: Time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability combined with missing input validation in Caliptra Core ROM…
CVE-2026-11835 analysis covering impact, affected products, versions, remediation, and cross-checked defender guidance.
CVE-2026-11835 is a vulnerability published by NVD on 8/4/2026.
What happened
Time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability combined with missing input validation in Caliptra Core ROM (UpdateResetFlow::run()) in subsystem mode allows a compromised local attacker to silently bypass secure boot by supplying an AXI staging address that is not validated against the strap-configured SS_EXTERNAL_STAGING_AREA_BASE_ADDR, enabling firmware to be modified between verification and loading into ICCM. Attestation continues to report the originally verified image digest, masking the compromise. Exploitation requires a compromised MCU firmware with AXI manager access to unprotected SRAM reachable by Caliptra.
This issue affects Core ROM: 2.1.0 through 2.1.1.
Affected products and versions
- NVD has not published a normalized affected-product configuration yet.
Severity and weakness
CVSS: MEDIUM 5.6. Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:N/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.
Weaknesses: CWE-20, CWE-367.
Known exploitation
No CISA KEV entry is currently attached to the NVD record.
What defenders should do
- Identify whether the affected product and version range exists in production.
- Review vendor advisories and release notes before change windows.
- Patch, upgrade, disable the vulnerable component, or apply vendor mitigations.
- Verify the running version after deployment, not only the package inventory.
Official and supporting references
- No vendor advisory tagged by NVD at draft time.