CVE-2021-39228: Tremor script Memory Safety Issue When Using Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-mc22-5q92-8v85
CVSS 6.5
CWE-825 CWE-416
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-39228 is a MODERATE (CVSS 6.5) memory safety issue when using vulnerability (CWE-825: Expired Pointer Dereference) affecting Tremor script libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves memory safety issue when using patch or merge on state and assign the result back to state. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.11.6.

CVE-2021-39228 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-39228
GHSA Identifier GHSA-mc22-5q92-8v85
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 6.5
CWE Classification CWE-825: Expired Pointer Dereference
Affected Product Tremor script
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 6.5

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:L/I:L/A:N).

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 Low (C:L)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2021-39228

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

tremor-script fixed: 0.11.6
Upgrade tremor-script to 0.11.6
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 tremor-script

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2021-39228, inspect your project dependencies for Tremor script:

inspect dependencies for tremor-script

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Tremor script in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.11.6), 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-825: Expired Pointer Dereference, where the product dereferences a pointer that contains a location for memory that was previously valid, but is no longer valid. In Tremor script, 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

### Impact This vulnerability is a memory safety Issue when using [`patch`](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch) or [`merge`](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) on `state` and assign the result back to `state`. In this case affected versions of Tremor and the [tremor-script crate](https://crates.io/crates/tremor-script) maintains references to memory that might have been freed already. And these memory regions can be accessed by retrieving the `state`, e.g. send it over TCP or HTTP. This requires the Tremor server (or any other program using tremor-script) to execute a tremor-script script that uses the mentioned language construct. #### Details If affects the following two tremor-script language constructs: * A [Merge](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) where we assign the result back to the target expression and the expression to be merged needs to reference the `event`: ``` let state = merge state of event end; ``` * A [Patch](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch) where we assign the result back to the target expression and the patch operations used need to reference the `event`: ``` let state = patch state of insert event.key => event.value end; ``` For constructs like this (it does not matter what it references in the expression to be merged or the patch operations) an optimization was applied to manipulate the target value in-place, instead of cloning it. Our `Value` struct, which underpins all event data in `tremor-script`, is representing strings as borrowed `beef::Cow<'lifetime, str>`, that reference the raw data `Vec<u8>` the event is based upon. We keep this raw byte-array next to the `Value` structure inside our `Event` as a self-referential struct, so we make sure that the structured `Value` and its references are valid across its whole lifetime. The optimization was considered safe as long as it was only possible to merge or patch `event` data or static data. When `state` was introduced to `tremor-script` (in version 0.7.3) a new possibility to keep `Value` data around for longer than the lifetime of an event emerged. If `event` data is merged or patched into `state` without cloning it first, it can still reference keys or values from the previous event, which will now be invalid. This allows access to those already freed regions of memory and to get their content out over the wire. ### Patches The issue has been patched in https://crates.io/crates/tremor-script/0.11.6 and https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/releases/tag/v0.11.6 via commit [1a2efcd](https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/commit/1a2efcdbe68e5e7fd0a05836ac32d2cde78a0b2e) by removing the optimization and always clone the target expression of a [Merge](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) or [Patch](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch. ### Workarounds If an upgrade is not possible, a possible workaround is to avoid the optimization by introducing a temporary variable and not immediately reassigning to `state`: ``` let tmp = merge state of event end; let state = tmp ``` ### References The actual fix is applied in this PR: https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/pull/1217 ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue on our repository [tremor-rs/tremor-runtime](https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime) * Please join our discord https://chat.tremor.rs and reach out to the team.

CVE-2021-39228 Affected Tremor script Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.11.6
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
tremor-script
crates.io
≥ 0.7.3
< 0.11.6
0.11.6

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-39228?
CVE-2021-39228 is a security vulnerability in Tremor script involving Memory Safety Issue when using patch or merge on state and assign the result back to state under CWE-825: Expired Pointer Dereference.
Which Tremor script versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.11.6 across affected packages: tremor-script.
What version fixes CVE-2021-39228?
Upgrading to 0.11.6 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is tremor-script affected?
Yes, tremor-script is affected in releases prior to 0.11.6. Upgrade your dependency to 0.11.6 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-39228?
CVE-2021-39228 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-39228?
CVE-2021-39228 is classified under CWE-825: Expired Pointer Dereference (The product dereferences a pointer that contains a location for memory that was previously valid, but is no longer valid.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2021-39228?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for tremor-script'. 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
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-mc22-5q92-8v85",
  "modified" : "2021-09-17T17:50:18Z",
  "published" : "2021-09-20T19:52:53Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-39228" ],
  "summary" : "Memory Safety Issue when using patch or merge on state and assign the result back to state",
  "details" : "\n### Impact\n\nThis vulnerability is a memory safety Issue when using [`patch`](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch) or [`merge`](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) on `state` and assign the result back to `state`.\nIn this case affected versions of Tremor and the [tremor-script crate](https://crates.io/crates/tremor-script) maintains references to memory that might have been freed already. And these memory regions can be accessed by retrieving the `state`, e.g. send it over TCP or HTTP. This requires the Tremor server (or any other program using tremor-script) to execute a tremor-script script that uses the mentioned language construct.\n\n#### Details\n\nIf affects the following two tremor-script language constructs:\n\n* A [Merge](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) where we assign the result back to the target expression\n  and the expression to be merged needs to reference the `event`:\n\n```\nlet state = merge state of event end;\n```\n\n* A [Patch](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch) where we assign the result back to the target expression\n  and the patch operations used need to reference the `event`:\n\n```\nlet state = patch state of insert event.key => event.value end;\n```\n\nFor constructs like this (it does not matter what it references in the expression to be merged or the patch operations) an optimization\nwas applied to manipulate the target value in-place, instead of cloning it.\n\nOur `Value` struct, which underpins all event data in `tremor-script`, is representing strings as borrowed `beef::Cow<'lifetime, str>`, \nthat reference the raw data `Vec<u8>` the event is based upon. We keep this raw byte-array next to the `Value` structure inside our `Event` as a self-referential struct,\nso we make sure that the structured `Value` and its references are valid across its whole lifetime.\n\nThe optimization was considered safe as long as it was only possible to merge or patch `event` data or static data.\nWhen `state` was introduced to `tremor-script` (in version 0.7.3) a new possibility to keep `Value` data around for longer than the lifetime of an event emerged.\nIf `event` data is merged or patched into `state` without cloning it first, it can still reference keys or values from\nthe previous event, which will now be invalid. This allows access to those already freed regions of memory and to get their content out over the wire.\n\n### Patches\n\nThe issue has been patched in https://crates.io/crates/tremor-script/0.11.6 and https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/releases/tag/v0.11.6 via commit [1a2efcd](https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/commit/1a2efcdbe68e5e7fd0a05836ac32d2cde78a0b2e) by removing the optimization\nand always clone the target expression of a [Merge](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#merge) or [Patch](https://www.tremor.rs/docs/tremor-script/index#patch.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nIf an upgrade is not possible, a possible workaround is to avoid the optimization\nby introducing a temporary variable and not immediately reassigning to `state`:\n\n```\nlet tmp = merge state of event end;\nlet state = tmp\n```\n\n### References\n\nThe actual fix is applied in this PR: https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/pull/1217\n\n### For more information\n\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory:\n* Open an issue on our repository [tremor-rs/tremor-runtime](https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime)\n* Please join our discord https://chat.tremor.rs and reach out to the team.\n\n",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "tremor-script"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.7.3"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.11.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/security/advisories/GHSA-mc22-5q92-8v85"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-39228"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/pull/1217"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/commit/1a2efcdbe68e5e7fd0a05836ac32d2cde78a0b2e"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/tremor-rs/tremor-runtime/releases/tag/v0.11.6"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-416", "CWE-825" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-09-17T17:50:18Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-09-17T14:15:00Z"
  }
}