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CVE-2021-43790

Use After Free in lucet

8.5 High

Lucet is a native WebAssembly compiler and runtime. There is a bug in the main branch of lucet-runtime affecting all versions published to crates.io that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped. Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet no longer provides versioned releases on crates.io. There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.62%Up 0.9 points since Nov 30, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used8.5

Use After Free in lucet

Lucet is a native WebAssembly compiler and runtime. There is a bug in the main branch of lucet-runtime affecting all versions published to crates.io that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped. Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet no longer provides versioned releases on crates.io. There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Record
CVE-2021-43790
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-416
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-23558.5

Lucet is a native WebAssembly compiler and runtime. There is a bug in the main branch of lucet-runtime affecting all versions published to crates.io that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped. Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet no longer provides versioned releases on crates.io. There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Record
EUVD-2021-2355
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-hf79-8hjp-rrvq8.5

Use After Free in lucet

Impact

There is a bug in the main branch of Lucet's lucet-runtime that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped.

Patches

Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet does not provide versioned releases on crates.io.

Workarounds

There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Description

Lucet uses a "pool" allocator for new WebAssembly instances that are created. This pool allocator manages everything from the linear memory of the wasm instance, the runtime stack for async switching, as well as the memory behind the Instance itself. Instances are referred to via an InstanceHandle type which will, on drop, release the memory backing the Instance back to the pool.

When an Instance is dropped, the fields of the Instance are destructed top-to-bottom, however when the alloc: Alloc field is destructed, the memory backing the Instance is released back to the pool before the destructors of the remaining fields are run. If another thread allocates the same memory from the pool while these destructors are still running, a race condition occurs that can lead to use-after-free errors.

The bug was corrected by changing how the InstanceHandle destructor operates to ensure that the memory backing an Instance is only returned to the pool once the Instance has been completely destroyed.

This security advisory has been assigned CVE-2021-43790.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Record
GHSA-hf79-8hjp-rrvq
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-416
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD8.5

Lucet is a native WebAssembly compiler and runtime. There is a bug in the main branch of lucet-runtime affecting all versions published to crates.io that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped. Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet no longer provides versioned releases on crates.io. There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Record
CVE-2021-43790
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
8.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.0
6.8 MediumAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Weakness
CWE-416
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV8.1

Lucet is a native WebAssembly compiler and runtime. There is a bug in the main branch of lucet-runtime affecting all versions published to crates.io that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped. Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet no longer provides versioned releases on crates.io. There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Record
CVE-2021-43790
CVSS 3.1
8.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-hf79-8hjp-rrvq8.5

Use After Free in lucet

Impact

There is a bug in the main branch of Lucet's lucet-runtime that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped.

Patches

Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet does not provide versioned releases on crates.io.

Workarounds

There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Description

Lucet uses a "pool" allocator for new WebAssembly instances that are created. This pool allocator manages everything from the linear memory of the wasm instance, the runtime stack for async switching, as well as the memory behind the Instance itself. Instances are referred to via an InstanceHandle type which will, on drop, release the memory backing the Instance back to the pool.

When an Instance is dropped, the fields of the Instance are destructed top-to-bottom, however when the alloc: Alloc field is destructed, the memory backing the Instance is released back to the pool before the destructors of the remaining fields are run. If another thread allocates the same memory from the pool while these destructors are still running, a race condition occurs that can lead to use-after-free errors.

The bug was corrected by changing how the InstanceHandle destructor operates to ensure that the memory backing an Instance is only returned to the pool once the Instance has been completely destroyed.

This security advisory has been assigned CVE-2021-43790.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Record
GHSA-hf79-8hjp-rrvq
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-416
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVRUSTSEC-2021-01558.5

Use After Free in lucet-runtime

There is a bug in the main branch of Lucet's lucet-runtime that allows a use-after-free in an Instance object that could result in memory corruption, data race, or other related issues. This bug was introduced early in the development of Lucet and is present in all releases. As a result of this bug, and dependent on the memory backing for the Instance objects, it is possible to trigger a use-after-free when the Instance is dropped.

Patches

Users should upgrade to the main branch of the Lucet repository. Lucet does not provide versioned releases on crates.io.

Workarounds

There is no way to remediate this vulnerability without upgrading.

Description

Lucet uses a "pool" allocator for new WebAssembly instances that are created. This pool allocator manages everything from the linear memory of the wasm instance, the runtime stack for async switching, as well as the memory behind the Instance itself. Instances are referred to via an InstanceHandle type which will, on drop, release the memory backing the Instance back to the pool.

When an Instance is dropped, the fields of the Instance are destructed top-to-bottom, however when the alloc: Alloc field is destructed, the memory backing the Instance is released back to the pool before the destructors of the remaining fields are run. If another thread allocates the same memory from the pool while these destructors are still running, a race condition occurs that can lead to use-after-free errors.

The bug was corrected by changing how the InstanceHandle destructor operates to ensure that the memory backing an Instance is only returned to the pool once the Instance has been completely destroyed.

Record
RUSTSEC-2021-0155
CVSS 3.1
8.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
lucet-runtime
crates.io
through 0.6.1None known
lucet-runtime
crates.io
0.0.0-0 and laterNone known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2021-43790 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.5) in Bytecodealliance Lucet, published November 29, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.62%, the 76th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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