CVE-2020-36464: Heapless Use After Free Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-qgwf-r2jj-2ccv
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-416
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-36464 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) use after free vulnerability (CWE-416: Use After Free) affecting Heapless libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves use after free in heapless. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.6.1.

CVE-2020-36464 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-36464
GHSA Identifier GHSA-qgwf-r2jj-2ccv
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-416: Use After Free
Affected Product Heapless
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2020-36464

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

heapless fixed: 0.6.1 
Upgrade heapless to 0.6.1
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 heapless

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2020-36464, inspect your project dependencies for Heapless:

inspect dependencies for heapless

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Heapless in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.6.1), 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-416: Use After Free, where the product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. at some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer. In Heapless, 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

An issue was discovered in the heapless crate before 0.6.1 for Rust. The IntoIter Clone implementation clones an entire underlying Vec without considering whether it has already been partially consumed.

CVE-2020-36464 Affected Heapless Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.6.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
heapless
 crates.io
< 0.6.1
0.6.1

References

NVD — CVE-2020-36464 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36464
Heapless Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/japaric/heapless/issues/181
Heapless Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/japaric/heapless
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2020-0145.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-36464?
CVE-2020-36464 is a security vulnerability in Heapless involving Use after free in heapless under CWE-416: Use After Free.
Which Heapless versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.6.1 across affected packages: heapless.
What version fixes CVE-2020-36464?
Upgrading to 0.6.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is heapless affected?
Yes, heapless is affected in releases prior to 0.6.1. Upgrade your dependency to 0.6.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-36464?
CVE-2020-36464 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2020-36464?
CVE-2020-36464 is classified under CWE-416: Use After Free (The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2020-36464?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for heapless'. 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-qgwf-r2jj-2ccv",
  "modified" : "2021-08-18T21:16:38Z",
  "published" : "2021-08-25T20:56:09Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-36464" ],
  "summary" : "Use after free in heapless",
  "details" : "An issue was discovered in the heapless crate before 0.6.1 for Rust. The IntoIter Clone implementation clones an entire underlying Vec without considering whether it has already been partially consumed.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "heapless"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.6.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36464"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/japaric/heapless/issues/181"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/japaric/heapless"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2020-0145.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-416" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-08-18T21:16:38Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-08-08T06:15:00Z"
  }
}