Wasmtime leaks data between pooling allocator instances
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · None · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
Wasmtime is a runtime for WebAssembly. From 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1, Wasmtime's implementation of its pooling allocator contains a bug where in certain configurations the contents of linear memory can be leaked from one instance to the next. The implementation of resetting the virtual memory permissions for linear memory used the wrong predicate to determine if resetting was necessary, where the compilation process used a different predicate. This divergence meant that the pooling allocator incorrectly deduced at runtime that resetting virtual memory permissions was not necessary while compile-time determine that virtual memory could be relied upon. The pooling allocator must be in use, Config::memory_guard_size configuration option must be 0, Config::memory_reservation configuration must be less than 4GiB, and pooling allocator must be configured with max_memory_size the same as the memory_reservation value in order to exploit this vulnerability. If all of these conditions are applicable then when a linear memory is reused the VM permissions of the previous iteration are not reset. This means that the compiled code, which is assuming out-of-bounds loads will segfault, will not actually segfault and can read the previous contents of linear memory if it was previously mapped. This represents a data leakage vulnerability between guest WebAssembly instances which breaks WebAssembly's semantics and additionally breaks the sandbox that Wasmtime provides. Wasmtime is not vulnerable to this issue with its default settings, nor with the default settings of the pooling allocator, but embeddings are still allowed to configure these values to cause this vulnerability. This vulnerability is fixed in 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bytecodealliance | wasmtime | 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7; 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2; 43.0.0 to before 44.0.1 | 36.0.7, 42.0.2, 44.0.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | wasmtime (crates.io) | 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7 | 36.0.7 | Patch available | GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p |
| — | wasmtime (crates.io) | 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2 | 42.0.2 | Patch available | GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p |
| — | wasmtime (crates.io) | 43.0.0 to before 43.0.1 | 43.0.1 | Patch available | GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p |
- wasmtime Vendorbytecodealliance Affected 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7; 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2; 43.0.0 to before 44.0.1 Fixed in 36.0.7, 42.0.2, 44.0.1 Patch available CNA
- wasmtime (crates.io) Vendor— Affected 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7 Fixed in 36.0.7 Patch available GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p
- wasmtime (crates.io) Vendor— Affected 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2 Fixed in 42.0.2 Patch available GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p
- wasmtime (crates.io) Vendor— Affected 43.0.0 to before 43.0.1 Fixed in 43.0.1 Patch available GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p
CPE configurations NVD · 2
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* | 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7; 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2 | Vulnerable | bytecodealliance |
| cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:43.0.0:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* | 43.0.0 | Vulnerable | bytecodealliance |
- cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* Versions 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7; 37.0.0 to before 42.0.2 Vulnerable ·bytecodealliance
- cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:43.0.0:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* Versions 43.0.0 Vulnerable ·bytecodealliance
Remediation
- Fix · CNA wasmtime (bytecodealliance) Fixed in 36.0.7, 42.0.2, 44.0.1
- Fix · GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p wasmtime (crates.io) Fixed in 36.0.7 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p wasmtime (crates.io) Fixed in 42.0.2 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p wasmtime (crates.io) Fixed in 43.0.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Connectivity Link 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-34988
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p
References
More bytecodealliance Wasmtime vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-21632 Wasmtime is vulnerable to panic when dropping a `[Typed]Func::call_async` future CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2023-11636 Guest-controlled out-of-bounds read/write on x86_64 in wasmtime CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2022-18765 Wasmtime vulnerable to data leakage between instances in the pooling allocator CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
- TI-2022-08604 Use after free in Wasmtime CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-18766 wasmtime_trap_code C API function has out of bounds write vulnerability CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-27209 Wasmtime with Winch compiler backend on aarch64 may allow a sandbox-escaping memory access CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.0
Sources
- CVE-2026-34988 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-34988 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-34988 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences