CVE-2021-43174: Routinator Memory Exhaustion Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-6mv9-qcx2-3hh3
Share
CVSS 7.5
CWE-787
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-43174 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) memory exhaustion vulnerability (CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write) affecting Routinator libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves memory exhaustion in routinator. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.10.2.

CVE-2021-43174 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-43174
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6mv9-qcx2-3hh3
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write
Affected Product Routinator
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-2021-43174

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

routinator fixed: 0.10.2 
Upgrade routinator to 0.10.2
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 routinator

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2021-43174, inspect your project dependencies for Routinator:

inspect dependencies for routinator

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Routinator in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.10.2), 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-787: Out-of-bounds Write, where the product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. In Routinator, 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

NLnet Labs Routinator versions 0.9.0 up to and including 0.10.1, support the gzip transfer encoding when querying RRDP repositories. This encoding can be used by an RRDP repository to cause an out-of-memory crash in these versions of Routinator. RRDP uses XML which allows arbitrary amounts of white space in the encoded data. The gzip scheme compresses such white space extremely well, leading to very small compressed files that become huge when being decompressed for further processing, big enough that Routinator runs out of memory when parsing input data waiting for the next XML element.

CVE-2021-43174 Affected Routinator Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.10.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
routinator
 crates.io
≥ 0.9.0
< 0.10.2
0.10.2

References

NVD — CVE-2021-43174 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-43174
Routinator Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/NLnetLabs/routinator
Routinator Security Information SECURITY
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5041
www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/routinato... WEB
https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/routinator/CVE-2021-43172_CVE-2021-43173_CVE-2021-43174.txt

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-43174?
CVE-2021-43174 is a security vulnerability in Routinator involving Memory exhaustion in routinator under CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write.
Which Routinator versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.10.2 across affected packages: routinator.
What version fixes CVE-2021-43174?
Upgrading to 0.10.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is routinator affected?
Yes, routinator is affected in releases prior to 0.10.2. Upgrade your dependency to 0.10.2 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-43174?
CVE-2021-43174 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-2021-43174?
CVE-2021-43174 is classified under CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write (The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2021-43174?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for routinator'. 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-6mv9-qcx2-3hh3",
  "modified" : "2021-11-15T14:48:03Z",
  "published" : "2021-11-11T00:55:08Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-43174" ],
  "summary" : "Memory exhaustion in routinator",
  "details" : "NLnet Labs Routinator versions 0.9.0 up to and including 0.10.1, support the gzip transfer encoding when querying RRDP repositories. This encoding can be used by an RRDP repository to cause an out-of-memory crash in these versions of Routinator. RRDP uses XML which allows arbitrary amounts of white space in the encoded data. The gzip scheme compresses such white space extremely well, leading to very small compressed files that become huge when being decompressed for further processing, big enough that Routinator runs out of memory when parsing input data waiting for the next XML element.",
  "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" : "routinator"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.9.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.10.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-43174"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/NLnetLabs/routinator"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5041"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/downloads/routinator/CVE-2021-43172_CVE-2021-43173_CVE-2021-43174.txt"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-787" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-11-10T19:04:55Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-11-09T17:15:00Z"
  }
}