CVE-2024-4435
BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak. In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 https://github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward. Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak. In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 https://github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward. Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
CVE-2024-4435- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-1394
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak. In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 https://github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward. Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
EUVD-2024-1394- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-3rcq-39xp-7xjp
ic-stable-structures vulnerable to BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
Impact
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak.
In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward.
Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Patches
The problem has been fixed in PR #212 and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.
Workarounds
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
GHSA-3rcq-39xp-7xjp- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak. In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 https://github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward. Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
CVE-2024-4435- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak. In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 https://github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward. Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
CVE-2024-4435- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-3rcq-39xp-7xjp
ic-stable-structures vulnerable to BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
Impact
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". It was discovered recently that when we deallocate a node, in some cases only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak.
In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in #212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward.
Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Patches
The problem has been fixed in PR #212 and users are asked to upgrade to version 0.6.4.
Workarounds
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
- Record
GHSA-3rcq-39xp-7xjp- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVRUSTSEC-2024-0406
BTreeMap memory leak when deallocating nodes with overflows
When storing unbounded types in a BTreeMap, a node is represented as a linked list of "memory chunks". In some cases, when we deallocate a node only the first memory chunk is deallocated, and the rest of the memory chunks remain (incorrectly) allocated, causing a memory leak.
In the worst case, depending on how a canister uses the BTreeMap, an adversary could interact with the canister through its API and trigger interactions with the map that keep consuming memory due to the memory leak. This could potentially lead to using an excessive amount of memory, or even running out of memory.
This issue has been fixed in dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212 by changing the logic for deallocating nodes to ensure that all of a node's memory chunks are deallocated. Tests have been added to prevent regressions of this nature moving forward.
Note: Users of stable-structure < 0.6.0 are not affected.
Workarounds
Users who are not storing unbounded types in BTreeMap are not affected and do not need to upgrade. Otherwise, an upgrade to version 0.6.4 is necessary.
References
- Record
RUSTSEC-2024-0406- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ic-stable-structurescrates.io |
0.6.0 up to 0.6.4 | 0.6.4 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2024-4435 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.9) in Dfinity Stable Structures, published May 17, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.52%, the 44th percentile. Fixed in ic-stable-structures 0.6.4.
References
github.com/dfinity/stable-structures/pull/212
docs.rs/ic-stable-structures/0.6.4/ic_stable_structures
internetcomputer.org/docs/current/developer-docs/smart-contracts/maintain/storage
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-4435