CVE-2021-45685: columnar Read On Uninitialized Buffer May Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-9mp7-45qh-r8j8
Share
CVSS 9.8
CWE-908
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-45685 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) read on uninitialized buffer may vulnerability (CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource) affecting columnar libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves read on uninitialized buffer may cause ub (columnarreadext::read_typed_vec()). Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2021-45685 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-45685
GHSA Identifier GHSA-9mp7-45qh-r8j8
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource
Affected Product columnar
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

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:H/I:H/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 High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2021-45685

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

columnar fixed: Latest secure release 
Upgrade columnar 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 columnar

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2021-45685, inspect your project dependencies for columnar:

inspect dependencies for columnar

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of columnar 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-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource, where the product uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized. In columnar, 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

Affected versions of this crate passes an uninitialized buffer to a user-provided Read implementation (ColumnarReadExt::read_typed_vec()). Arbitrary Read implementations can read from the uninitialized buffer (memory exposure) and also can return incorrect number of bytes written to the buffer. Reading from uninitialized memory produces undefined values that can quickly invoke undefined behavior.

CVE-2021-45685 Affected columnar Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
columnar
 crates.io
≤ 0.0.19

References

NVD — CVE-2021-45685 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-45685
columnar Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/frankmcsherry/columnar/issues/6
columnar Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/frankmcsherry/columnar.git
raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db... WEB
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db/main/crates/columnar/RUSTSEC-2021-0087.md
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2021-0087.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-45685?
CVE-2021-45685 is a security vulnerability in columnar involving Read on uninitialized buffer may cause UB (ColumnarReadExt::read_typed_vec()) under CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource.
Which columnar versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: columnar.
What version fixes CVE-2021-45685?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is columnar affected?
Yes, columnar is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-45685?
CVE-2021-45685 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-45685?
CVE-2021-45685 is classified under CWE-908: Use of Uninitialized Resource (The product uses or accesses a resource that has not been initialized.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2021-45685?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for columnar'. 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-9mp7-45qh-r8j8",
  "modified" : "2023-06-13T17:04:59Z",
  "published" : "2022-01-06T22:13:46Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-45685" ],
  "summary" : "columnar: Read on uninitialized buffer may cause UB (ColumnarReadExt::read_typed_vec())",
  "details" : "Affected versions of this crate passes an uninitialized buffer to a user-provided Read implementation (ColumnarReadExt::read_typed_vec()).\n\nArbitrary Read implementations can read from the uninitialized buffer (memory exposure) and also can return incorrect number of bytes written to the buffer. Reading from uninitialized memory produces undefined values that can quickly invoke undefined behavior.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "columnar"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "0.0.19"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-45685"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/frankmcsherry/columnar/issues/6"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/frankmcsherry/columnar.git"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rustsec/advisory-db/main/crates/columnar/RUSTSEC-2021-0087.md"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2021-0087.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-908" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-01-06T17:12:24Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-12-27T00:15:00Z"
  }
}