GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g Unsoundness in `Iterator` and `DoubleEndedIterator` impls for `glib::VariantStrIter`
An unsound pointer mutation in the Rust glib library causes null pointer dereferences and crashes when iterating over VariantStrIter.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Not stated
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g?
GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g is a vulnerability in glib, published on 30 Mar 2024.
Official description
The VariantStrIter::impl_get function (called internally by implementations of the Iterator and DoubleEndedIterator traits for this type) was unsound, resulting in undefined behaviour.
An immutable reference &p to a *mut libc::c_char pointer initialized to NULL was passed as an argument to a C function that that mutates the pointer behind &p in-place (i.e. as an out-argument), which was unsound. After changes in recent versions of the Rust compiler, these unsound writes through &p now seem to be completely disregarded when building the glib crate with optimizations.
This subsequently caused all calls of VariantStrIter::impl_get to violate the safety requirements of the std::ffi::CStr::from_ptr function - which requires its argument to be a valid pointer to a C-style string - resulting in crashes due to NULL pointer dereferences.
This was fixed by passing the out-argument pointer explitly as &mut p instead of &p.
This issue has been present since this code was initially added in glib v0.15.0. The mismatch in mutability was likely missed (and not raised as an error by the compiler) because the C function wrapped by VariantStrIter::impl_get is variadic (glib_sys::g_variant_get_child), and the pointer in question is one of the variadic arguments.
Which versions are affected by GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including glib.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
glib crates.io | From 0.15.0 | 0.20.0 |
glib crates.io | From 0.15.0 | 0.20.0 |
glib crates.io | From 0.15.0 | 0.20.0 |
How do I fix GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g?
Upgrade glib to 0.20.0 or later.
Is GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of GHSA-wrw7-89jp-8q8g in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as RUSTSEC-2024-0429.