CVE-2022-24791: Use after free in Wasmtime
There is a use after free vulnerability in Wasmtime when both running Wasm that uses externrefs and enabling epoch interruption in Wasmtime. If you are not explicitly enabling epoch interruption (it is disabled by default) then you are not affected. If you are explicitly disabling the Wasm reference types proposal (it is enabled by default) then you are also not affected.
The use after free is caused by Cranelift failing to emit stack maps when there are safepoints inside cold blocks. Cold blocks occur when epoch interruption is enabled. Cold blocks are emitted at the end of compiled functions, and change the order blocks are emitted versus defined. This reordering accidentally caused Cranelift to skip emitting some stack maps because it expected to emit the stack maps in block definition order, rather than block emission order. When Wasmtime would eventually collect garbage, it would fail to find live references on the stack because of the missing stack maps, think that they were unreferenced garbage, and therefore reclaim them. Then after the collection ended, the Wasm code could use the reclaimed-too-early references, which is a use after free.
This bug was discovered while extending our fuzz targets for externrefs and GC in Wasmtime. The updated fuzz target thoroughly exercises these code paths and feature combinations now. We have also added a regression test for this bug. Released versions 0.34.2 and 0.35.2, which fix the vulnerability. We recommend all Wasmtime users upgrade to these patched versions. If upgrading is not an option for you at this time, you can avoid the vulnerability by either disabling the Wasm reference types proposal or by disabling epoch interruption if you were previously enabling it.
Other sources
Wasmtime is a standalone JIT-style runtime for WebAssembly, using Cranelift. There is a use after free vulnerability in Wasmtime when both running Wasm that uses externrefs and enabling epoch interruption in Wasmtime. If you are not explicitly enabling epoch interruption (it is disabled by default) then you are not affected. If you are explicitly disabling the Wasm reference types proposal (it is enabled by default) then you are also not affected. The use after free is caused by Cranelift failing to emit stack maps when there are safepoints inside cold blocks. Cold blocks occur when epoch interruption is enabled. Cold blocks are emitted at the end of compiled functions, and change the order blocks are emitted versus defined. This reordering accidentally caused Cranelift to skip emitting some stack maps because it expected to emit the stack maps in block definition order, rather than block emission order. When Wasmtime would eventually collect garbage, it would fail to find live references on the stack because of the missing stack maps, think that they were unreferenced garbage, and therefore reclaim them. Then after the collection ended, the Wasm code could use the reclaimed-too-early references, which is a use after free. Patches have been released in versions 0.34.2 and 0.35.2, which fix the vulnerability. All Wasmtime users are recommended to upgrade to these patched versions. If upgrading is not an option for you at this time, you can avoid the vulnerability by either: disabling the Wasm reference types proposal, config.wasmreferencetypes(false); or by disabling epoch interruption if you were previously enabling it. config.epochinterruption(false).
Affected Software
Remediation
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2022-24791?
CVE-2022-24791 is a use after free vulnerability in Wasmtime, a standalone JIT-style runtime for WebAssembly using Cranelift.
What is the severity of CVE-2022-24791?
The severity of CVE-2022-24791 is critical, with a CVSS score of 9.8.
How does CVE-2022-24791 affect Wasmtime?
CVE-2022-24791 affects Wasmtime when running Wasm that uses externrefs and enabling epoch interruption.
Which versions of Wasmtime are affected by CVE-2022-24791?
Wasmtime versions 0.34.0 to 0.34.2 and 0.35.0 to 0.35.2 are affected by CVE-2022-24791.
How can I fix CVE-2022-24791?
To fix CVE-2022-24791, update to a version of Wasmtime that is not affected by the vulnerability.