CVE-2023-30624

Workarounds

If Wasmtime is compiled with Rust 1.69 and prior, which use LLVM 15, then there are no known issues. There is a theoretical possibility for UB to exploited, however, so it's recommended that users upgrade to a patched version of Wasmtime. Users using beta Rust (1.70 at this time) or nightly Rust (1.71 at this time) must update to a patched version to work correctly.

References

• GitHub Advisory
• Mailing list announcement

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

• Reach out to us on the Bytecode Alliance Zulip chat
• Open an issue in the bytecodealliance/wasmtime repository

Wasmtime's implementation of managing per-instance state, such as tables and memories, contains LLVM-level undefined behavior. This undefined behavior was found to cause runtime-level issues when compiled with LLVM 16 which causes some writes, which are critical for correctness, to be optimized away. Vulnerable versions of Wasmtime compiled with Rust 1.70, which is currently in beta, or later are known to have incorrectly compiled functions. Versions of Wasmtime compiled with the current Rust stable release, 1.69, and prior are not known at this time to have any issues, but can theoretically exhibit potential issues.

The underlying problem is that Wasmtime's runtime state for an instance involves a Rust-defined structure called Instance which has a trailing VMContext structure after it. This VMContext structure has a runtime-defined layout that is unique per-module. This representation cannot be expressed with safe code in Rust so unsafe code is required to maintain this state. The code doing this, however, has methods which take &self as an argument but modify data in the VMContext part of the allocation. This means that pointers derived from &self are mutated. This is typically not allowed, except in the presence of UnsafeCell, in Rust. When compiled to LLVM these functions have noalias readonly parameters which means it's UB to write through the pointers.

Wasmtime's internal representation and management of VMContext has been updated to use &mut self methods where appropriate. Additionally verification tools for unsafe code in Rust, such as cargo miri, are planned to be executed on the main branch soon to fix any Rust-level issues that may be exploited in future compiler versions.

Precomplied binaries available for Wasmtime from GitHub releases have been compiled with at most LLVM 15 so are not known to be vulnerable. As mentioned above, however, it's still recommended to update.

CVE-2023-30624 has a CVSS score of 3.9 (Low). The vector is network-reachable, high privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (6.0.2, 7.0.1, 8.0.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Wasmtime version 6.0.2, 7.0.1, and 8.0.1 have been issued which contain the patch necessary to work correctly on LLVM 16 and have no known UB on LLVM 15 and earlier.

1. What is CVE-2023-30624? CVE-2023-30624 is a low-severity security vulnerability in wasmtime (rust), affecting versions < 6.0.2. It is fixed in 6.0.2, 7.0.1, 8.0.1.
2. How severe is CVE-2023-30624? CVE-2023-30624 has a CVSS score of 3.9 (Low). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of wasmtime are affected by CVE-2023-30624? wasmtime (rust) versions < 6.0.2 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2023-30624? Yes. CVE-2023-30624 is fixed in 6.0.2, 7.0.1, 8.0.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2023-30624 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-30624 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2023-30624 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2023-30624?
   • Upgrade wasmtime to 6.0.2 or later
   • Upgrade wasmtime to 7.0.1 or later
   • Upgrade wasmtime to 8.0.1 or later