CVE-2020-36210 in autorand Crate
Summary
by MITRE • 01/26/2021
An issue was discovered in the autorand crate before 0.2.3 for Rust. Because of impl Random on arrays, uninitialized memory can be dropped when a panic occurs, leading to memory corruption.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-36210 resides within the autorand crate version 0.2.2 and earlier, representing a critical memory safety issue that affects Rust-based applications. This flaw manifests through the implementation of the Random trait for arrays, creating a scenario where uninitialized memory may be improperly dropped during panic conditions, resulting in memory corruption. The issue specifically targets the Rust programming language's memory management mechanisms, where the automatic dropping of variables during panic handling becomes problematic when dealing with uninitialized array elements. The vulnerability represents a direct violation of memory safety principles that Rust developers rely upon for secure application development.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from how the autorand crate implements the Random trait for array types, particularly when these arrays contain uninitialized memory. When a panic occurs during the execution of code that utilizes these random array implementations, the drop implementation attempts to clean up memory that may contain uninitialized data. This improper handling leads to undefined behavior where memory corruption can occur, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate memory contents or cause application crashes. The flaw operates at the intersection of Rust's ownership model and panic handling mechanisms, where the standard drop behavior conflicts with uninitialized memory states during error conditions. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-457 category of use of uninitialized variable, which is classified as a fundamental memory safety issue that can lead to exploitation.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-36210 extends beyond simple application instability, as memory corruption can potentially enable more sophisticated attack vectors. When applications using affected versions of the autorand crate experience panic conditions, the uninitialized memory cleanup process can result in data corruption that may be leveraged for information disclosure or arbitrary code execution. This vulnerability particularly affects systems where Rust applications rely on random number generation for security-sensitive operations, as the corruption of random data can undermine cryptographic security measures. The issue demonstrates how seemingly benign memory management practices can become security threats when panic conditions are not properly accounted for in the drop implementations. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and script injection, as memory corruption can be exploited to alter program execution flow through memory manipulation.
Mitigation of this vulnerability requires immediate upgrade to version 0.2.3 or later of the autorand crate, which implements proper memory handling for array types during panic conditions. Developers should also conduct thorough code reviews of any applications that utilize this crate, particularly focusing on panic handling code paths that may interact with random array generation. The fix addresses the core issue by ensuring that uninitialized memory is properly managed during drop operations, preventing the corruption that occurs when panics are triggered. Security teams should prioritize this update across all systems that may be vulnerable, as the memory corruption potential makes this a high-priority remediation. Organizations should also consider implementing runtime monitoring for memory corruption patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts, as the vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple denial of service to potential security compromise.