OpenThread in Zephyr firmware: identifiers and CRA notes

What it is

OpenThread

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Notes on this component

OpenThread, Google's open-source implementation of the Thread mesh-networking protocol (CONFIG_OPENTHREAD). Zephyr's repository describes its copy as not a mirror of the official one. Flaws are published as GitHub security advisories on openthread/openthread and as CVEs under google:openthread; NVD names its releases by date (2023-07-06), which a tag does not give, so this row sets that CPE without a version. Two are filed: CVE-2023-2626 / GHSA-vr3r-363g-72j9 (a border router accepts radio frames built with "Key ID Mode 2", the static-key mode, so an unauthenticated node bypasses the security check and puts arbitrary IPv6 packets on the Thread network and onto the LAN; fixed in commit 3d5cb36) and CVE-2019-20791 (a stack buffer overflow in MeshCoP::Commissioner::GeneratePskc, before the 2019-12-13 release).

Also a subsystem, switched on by CONFIG_OPENTHREAD. OpenThread, the Thread networking stack, pulled in as a Zephyr module. CVE family is mesh networking message handling — MLE, the CoAP layer it carries, and joiner/commissioning paths — reachable over the radio. OpenThread has published one advisory on its own repository: CVE-2023-2626 (high: frames using IEEE 802.15.4 Key ID Mode 2 were processed as secure, so an attacker could inject IPv6 datagrams without the Thread network key), fixed in commit 3d5cb36 with no release version recorded. Nothing else as of 10 October 2026. Version comes from the openthread module component, not the kernel, because its vulnerabilities are filed against OpenThread upstream. Canonical identity is google:openthread, the same pair OpenThread's own module entry and the record that keeps the vendor SDK forks matched to the same upstream project both use — NVD files OpenThread under CPE part `o`, not `a`, so this row now carries that versionless CPE instead of leaving the field null.

Where it hides in a firmware SBOM

Zephyr lists a west module by its west name, with no PURL or CPE. Vulnerability feeds cannot find it from that listing alone, which is why the SBOM check adds the identifiers below.

It is compiled into the kernel image when CONFIG_OPENTHREAD is y. It does not appear in west spdx output; the only trace is the .config file in your build directory.

The identifiers we assign

PURLpackage URL: a standard way to name a software package

pkg:github/openthread/openthread@{version}

CPEthe product name vulnerability databases use to say what a flaw affects

cpe:2.3:o:google:openthread:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

{version} is filled in from your build. The version is read from the upstream release tag.

The SBOM check adds these identifiers to a component your build listed without them.

Honest gaps

Vendor: google.

Where this row comes from

https://github.com/openthread/openthread/security/advisories/GHSA-vr3r-363g-72j9
Checked on 10 October 2026.

Known vulnerabilities

Not checked yet

Vulnerability data changes daily. Check the version you ship in the SBOM check.

CRA notes

• List this component in your SBOM. Annex I, Part II (1): Identify and document components and vulnerabilities, including an SBOMKnow what is in your product. Identify and document its components and their vulnerabilities, including by producing a software bill of materials (SBOM) in a common machine-readable format that covers at least the top-level dependencies.
• Ship the version with no known exploitable vulnerabilities at release. Annex I, Part I (2(a)): Made available without known exploitable vulnerabilitiesWhen you place a release on the market, it must not ship with known vulnerabilities that can be exploited in your product. "Exploitable" means an attacker could effectively use it under practical operating conditions (Article 3(41)), not only in theory or in a lab. The Commission's draft guidance (C(2026) 5252, points 231 to 237; a draft, not binding) gives three ways a vulnerability is "known". One: it is listed in a relevant public vulnerability database, such as the European vulnerability database (EUVD) or another prominent one. Two: you learned of it from information that is not public, for example a security researcher's coordinated disclosure or your own testing and analysis; a vulnerability you know about and have not disclosed still counts. Three: it has been publicly and prominently reported in reliable media, whether specialist security publications or general news. A report is not yet proof: it does not by itself mean the vulnerability can be exploited in practice or applies to your product, so investigate promptly and confirm whether it does. A limited time may pass between the first report and that confirmation. If a vulnerability becomes known shortly before release, you decide from your cybersecurity risk assessment whether the release can go out or the vulnerability must be fixed first. Weigh its severity, exploitability and potential impact, and the risks to the product once in use; you may also weigh the risks of delaying the release, for example because it fixes other exploitable vulnerabilities. After release, the Part II vulnerability handling requirements still apply. Check your components against vulnerability databases before each release, and fix or justify what you find.
• An SBOM without this subsystem under-reports what is in the image. Annex I, Part II (1): Identify and document components and vulnerabilities, including an SBOMKnow what is in your product. Identify and document its components and their vulnerabilities, including by producing a software bill of materials (SBOM) in a common machine-readable format that covers at least the top-level dependencies.

Source: Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 (Cyber Resilience Act), legal state 2026.10.13-1.

Related Zephyr components

No related components yet.

Guides that mention OpenThread

• The CRA for Zephyr developers: what the law asks, what west spdx gives you, and what is left

Next step

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