---
id: CVE-2026-18796
title: |-
  Any application that
       uses external QSPI flash for encrypted XIP on nRF5340 and relies on that
       encryption for confidentiality and/or integrity of the externally stored
       code
summary: |-
  Any application that
       uses external QSPI flash for encrypted XIP on nRF5340 and relies on that
       encryption for confidentiality and/or integrity of the externally stored
       code. No specific nRF Connect SDK version is the root c…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:P/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-1342
vendor: Nordic Semiconductor ASA
product: nRF5340
affected:
  - nRF5340 All build codes
published: '2026-09-07'
updated: '2026-09-09'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-09T15:50:19.447'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-18796'
references:
  - url: 'https://docs.nordicsemi.com/r/bundle/struct_sa/page/struct/sa.html'
    label: 30a5e7fb-040d-440a-8cdf-a4a2068ce72e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00079
epssPercentile: 0.00123
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-09-08T15:01:20.642344Z'
cvssSource: cna
ingestedAt: '2026-09-08T15:33:26.975Z'
---

## Overview

Any application that
     uses external QSPI flash for encrypted XIP on nRF5340 and relies on that
     encryption for confidentiality and/or integrity of the externally stored
     code. No specific nRF Connect SDK version is the root cause; the weakness
     is in the on-the-fly decryption scheme.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.