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  5. CVE-2021-39219

CVE-2021-39219: Wrong type for `Linker`-define functions when used across two `Engine`s

September 20, 2021 (updated November 19, 2024)

As a Rust library the wasmtime crate clearly marks which functions are safe and which are unsafe, guaranteeing that if consumers never use unsafe then it should not be possible to have memory unsafety issues in their embeddings of Wasmtime. An issue was discovered in the safe API of Linker::func_* APIs. These APIs were previously not sound when one Engine was used to create the Linker and then a different Engine was used to create a Store and then the Linker was used to instantiate a module into that Store. Cross-Engine usage of functions is not supported in Wasmtime and this can result in type confusion of function pointers, resulting in being able to safely call a function with the wrong type.

Triggering this bug requires using at least two Engine values in an embedding and then additionally using two different values with a Linker (one at the creation time of the Linker and another when instantiating a module with the Linker).

It’s expected that usage of more-than-one Engine in an embedding is relatively rare since an Engine is intended to be a globally shared resource, so the expectation is that the impact of this issue is relatively small.

The fix implemented is to change this behavior to panic!() in Rust instead of silently allowing it. Using different Engine instances with a Linker is a programmer bug that wasmtime catches at runtime.

References

  • crates.io/crates/wasmtime
  • github.com/advisories/GHSA-q879-9g95-56mx
  • github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime
  • github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime-py/compare/0.29.0...0.30.0
  • github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/commit/b39f087414f27ae40c44449ed5d1154e03449bff
  • github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/security/advisories/GHSA-q879-9g95-56mx
  • github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/wasmtime/PYSEC-2021-322.yaml
  • lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WAVBRYDDUIY2ZR3K3FO4BVYJKIMJ5TP7
  • lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/Z2Z33FTXFQ6EOINVEQIP4DFBG53G5XIY
  • nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-39219
  • rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2021-0110.html

Code Behaviors & Features

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Affected versions

All versions before 0.30.0

Fixed versions

  • 0.30.0

Solution

Upgrade to version 0.30.0 or above.

Impact 6.3 MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Learn more about CVSS

Weakness

  • CWE-843: Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type ('Type Confusion')

Source file

cargo/wasmtime/CVE-2021-39219.yml

Spotted a mistake? Edit the file on GitLab.

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