PX4 Autopilot Missing authentication for critical function

published 2026-03-31 7 mo ago modified 2026-07-29 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-17614

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.0%; EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 61%
public exploits: 0; none known

The MAVLink communication protocol does not require cryptographic authentication by default. When MAVLink 2.0 message signing is not enabled, any message -- including SERIAL_CONTROL, which provides interactive shell access -- can be sent by an unauthenticated party with access to the MAVLink interface. PX4 provides MAVLink 2.0 message signing as the cryptographic authentication mechanism for all MAVLink communication. When signing is enabled, unsigned messages are rejected at the protocol level.

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

cisa ICSA-26-090-02 updated 2026-03-31 cvss 9.8

PX4 Autopilot

PX4 Autopilot v1.16.0_SITL_latest_stable
affected: mitigation “Message signing configuration documentation can be found at https://docs.px4.io/main/en/mavlink/message_signing.” docs.px4.io

From CISA ICS and IT advisories (CSAF, https://github.com/cisagov/CSAF), a U.S. Government work; changed: reduced to products, statuses and remediations. CISA notification · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 7 mo ago (2026-03-31)

Exploit prediction

0.96% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 61% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	4.0	9.3	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA	4.0	9.3	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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

Affected products

PX4 Autopilot

Classification

Weakness

CWE-306 Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality

References

docs.px4.io /main/en/mavlink/security_hardening
product
docs.px4.io /main/en/mavlink/message_signing
product
cisa.gov /news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-26-090-02
third-party-advisory, us-government-resource
github.com /cisagov/CSAF/blob/develop/csaf_files/OT/white/2026/icsa-26-090-02.json
third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2026-1579
NVD CVE-2026-1579

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary