CVE-2021-25904 in av-data Crate
Summary
by MITRE • 01/26/2021
An issue was discovered in the av-data crate before 0.3.0 for Rust. A raw pointer is dereferenced, leading to a read of an arbitrary memory address, sometimes causing a segfault.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/20/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-25904 resides within the av-data crate version 0.2.1 and earlier, representing a critical memory safety flaw that affects Rust-based applications utilizing this crate. This issue manifests as an improper handling of raw pointers during memory operations, creating a scenario where arbitrary memory addresses can be accessed through unsafe code paths. The vulnerability specifically impacts systems where the crate processes audio data or similar binary information, as the memory access patterns become unpredictable when raw pointer dereferencing occurs without proper bounds checking or validation mechanisms.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability stems from the crate's implementation of unsafe Rust operations that directly manipulate memory addresses without adequate safety guarantees. When the crate processes data structures containing raw pointers, it fails to validate whether these pointers reference valid memory regions before attempting to dereference them. This flaw creates a potential for unauthorized memory access patterns that can lead to segmentation faults or more sophisticated memory corruption attacks. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-467, which categorizes improper use of pointers in memory management operations, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for execution through the use of unsafe memory operations in programming languages.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple segmentation faults, as it can potentially enable attackers to extract sensitive information from memory regions or manipulate program execution flow. Applications that rely on the av-data crate for processing audio or multimedia data become susceptible to memory disclosure attacks, where attackers might be able to read arbitrary memory locations and potentially discover sensitive data such as cryptographic keys, user credentials, or application state information. The vulnerability's severity is compounded by the fact that it affects the underlying memory management operations rather than high-level application logic, making it particularly challenging to detect and mitigate through traditional application-level security measures.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2021-25904 primarily focus on upgrading to version 0.3.0 or later of the av-data crate, which implements proper memory safety checks and eliminates the unsafe raw pointer dereferencing operations. Organizations should conduct immediate vulnerability assessments to identify all systems utilizing affected versions of the crate and prioritize patching efforts accordingly. Additionally, developers should review their codebases for similar patterns of unsafe memory operations and implement proper bounds checking mechanisms. The remediation process should also include comprehensive testing to ensure that the updated version maintains expected functionality while eliminating the memory safety vulnerabilities. Security teams should monitor for potential exploitation attempts and implement network-based detection measures to identify unusual memory access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts against systems running vulnerable versions of the crate.