CVE-2020-36442: Beef Data Races Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-m7w4-8wp8-m2xq
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CVSS 8.1
CWE-362 CWE-119
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-36442 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.1) data races vulnerability (CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')) affecting Beef libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves data races in beef. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.5.0.

CVE-2020-36442 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-36442
GHSA Identifier GHSA-m7w4-8wp8-m2xq
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.1
CWE Classification CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
Affected Product Beef
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.1

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

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

How to Fix CVE-2020-36442

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

beef fixed: 0.5.0 
Upgrade beef to 0.5.0
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 beef

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2020-36442, inspect your project dependencies for Beef:

inspect dependencies for beef

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Beef in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.5.0), 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-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition'), where the product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently. In Beef, 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 beef crate before 0.5.0 for Rust. Affected versions of this crate did not have a `T: Sync` bound in the `Send` impl for `Cow<'_, T, U>`. This allows users to create data races by making `Cow` contain types that are (Send && !Sync) like `Cell<_>` or `RefCell<_>`. Such data races can lead to memory corruption. The flaw was corrected in commit d1c7658 by adding trait bounds `T: Sync` and `T::Owned: Send` to the `Send` impl for `Cow<'_, T, U>`.

CVE-2020-36442 Affected Beef Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.5.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
beef
 crates.io
< 0.5.0
0.5.0

References

NVD — CVE-2020-36442 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36442
Beef Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/maciejhirsz/beef/issues/37
Beef Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/maciejhirsz/beef
raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db... WEB
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db/main/crates/beef/RUSTSEC-2020-0122.md
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2020-0122.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-36442?
CVE-2020-36442 is a security vulnerability in Beef involving Data races in beef under CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition').
Which Beef versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.5.0 across affected packages: beef.
What version fixes CVE-2020-36442?
Upgrading to 0.5.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is beef affected?
Yes, beef is affected in releases prior to 0.5.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.5.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-36442?
CVE-2020-36442 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2020-36442?
CVE-2020-36442 is classified under CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition') (The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2020-36442?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for beef'. 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-m7w4-8wp8-m2xq",
  "modified" : "2021-08-24T18:35:48Z",
  "published" : "2021-08-25T20:59:08Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-36442" ],
  "summary" : "Data races in beef",
  "details" : "An issue was discovered in the beef crate before 0.5.0 for Rust. \nAffected versions of this crate did not have a `T: Sync` bound in the `Send` impl for `Cow<'_, T, U>`. This allows users to create data races by making `Cow` contain types that are (Send && !Sync) like `Cell<_>` or `RefCell<_>`.\n\nSuch data races can lead to memory corruption.\n\nThe flaw was corrected in commit d1c7658 by adding trait bounds `T: Sync` and `T::Owned: Send` to the `Send` impl for `Cow<'_, T, U>`.\n",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "beef"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.5.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36442"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/maciejhirsz/beef/issues/37"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/maciejhirsz/beef"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db/main/crates/beef/RUSTSEC-2020-0122.md"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2020-0122.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-119", "CWE-362" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-08-09T21:50:28Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-08-08T06:15:00Z"
  }
}