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Fencer Intel
medium —

GHSA-vfvv-c25p-m7mm json

rkyv: Panic safety bugs in `InlineVec::clear` and `SerVec::clear` enable arbitrary code execution

published 6mo ago modified 2mo ago also RUSTSEC-2026-0122

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
—
no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

`InlineVec::clear()` and `SerVec::clear()` in `rkyv` were not panic-safe. Both functions iterate over their elements and call `drop_in_place` on each, updating `self.len` only *after* the loop. If an element's `Drop` implementation panics during the loop, `self.len` is left at its original value.

A subsequent invocation of `clear()` on the same container then re-visits the already-freed elements:

- `InlineVec::clear()` is called again from `InlineVec`'s own `Drop` implementation when the value is later dropped. - `SerVec::clear()` is called again by `SerVec::with_capacity()` after the user closure returns.

## Technical Impact

- **CWE-415 (Double Free):** Heap corruption when element type holds `Box<T>` - **CWE-416 (Use-After-Free):** Memory corruption when element reads from heap during `Drop`

Both vulnerabilities are triggerable entirely from safe Rust via `std::panic::catch_unwind` and require no special privileges.

Patch / fix

  • crates.io rkyv 0.8.16

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Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
crates.io rkyv
>=0.8.0, <0.8.16
0.8.16

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

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