GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q: Scratchpad :Tracking Can Cause Heap Buffer Vulnerability

MODERATE
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CWE-122
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q is a MODERATE :tracking can cause heap buffer vulnerability (CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow) affecting Scratchpad libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves :tracking can cause heap buffer overflows. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow
Affected Product Scratchpad
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Scratchpad dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

scratchpad fixed: Latest secure release 
Upgrade scratchpad to Latest secure release
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for scratchpad

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q, inspect your project dependencies for Scratchpad:

inspect dependencies for scratchpad

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Scratchpad in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow, where a heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). In Scratchpad, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

The `get` and `set` methods of the public trait `scratchpad::Tracking` interact with unsafe code regions in the crate, and they influence the computation of addresses returned as raw pointers. However, the trait itself is not marked as unsafe, meaning users may provide custom implementations under the assumption that the crate upholds all safety guarantees. This becomes problematic because even safe implementations of `get` and `set`-written without using any unsafe code-can still result in ill-formed raw pointers. These pointers may later be dereferenced within safe APIs of the crate (e.g., `marker::MarkerBack::allocate_slice_copy`), potentially leading to arbitrary memory access or heap buffer overflows. According to the [penultimate commit](https://github.com/okready/scratchpad/commit/957dee1a3902f48600b06910e8e0b1d5ee7dab83), the crate is in maintenance mode awaiting a cleanup that will reduce the area of unsafe code. Note that the last commits to the repository are from 4 years ago.

GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q Affected Scratchpad Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
scratchpad
 crates.io
≤ 1.3.1

References

Scratchpad Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/okready/scratchpad/issues/2
Scratchpad Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/okready/scratchpad
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2025-0049.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q?
GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q is a security vulnerability in Scratchpad involving :Tracking can cause heap buffer overflows under CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow.
Which Scratchpad versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: scratchpad.
What version fixes GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is scratchpad affected?
Yes, scratchpad is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q?
GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q is classified under CWE-122: Heap-based Buffer Overflow (A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for scratchpad'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-77h3-w9rx-hj3q",
  "modified" : "2025-08-14T22:23:02Z",
  "published" : "2025-08-14T22:23:02Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "User-defined implementations of the safe trait scratchpad::Tracking can cause heap buffer overflows",
  "details" : "The `get` and `set` methods of the public trait `scratchpad::Tracking` interact with unsafe code regions in the crate, and they influence the computation of addresses returned as raw pointers. However, the trait itself is not marked as unsafe, meaning users may provide custom implementations under the assumption that the crate upholds all safety guarantees.\n\nThis becomes problematic because even safe implementations of `get` and `set`-written without using any unsafe code-can still result in ill-formed raw pointers. These pointers may later be dereferenced within safe APIs of the crate (e.g., `marker::MarkerBack::allocate_slice_copy`), potentially leading to arbitrary memory access or heap buffer overflows.\n\nAccording to the [penultimate commit](https://github.com/okready/scratchpad/commit/957dee1a3902f48600b06910e8e0b1d5ee7dab83), the crate is in maintenance mode awaiting a cleanup that will reduce the area of unsafe code. Note that the last commits to the repository are from 4 years ago.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "scratchpad"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "1.3.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/okready/scratchpad/issues/2"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/okready/scratchpad"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2025-0049.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-122" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-08-14T22:23:02Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}