CVE-2021-39219 json
Wrong type for `Linker`-define functions when used across two `Engine`s
published 2021-09-17 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-0465
- cvss
- 6.3
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.4%
- EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 30%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Wasmtime is an open source runtime for WebAssembly & WASI. Wasmtime before version 0.30.0 is affected by a type confusion vulnerability. As a Rust library the `wasmtime` crate clearly marks which functions are safe and which are `unsafe`, guaranteeing that if consumers never use `unsafe` then it should not be possible to have memory unsafety issues in their embeddings of Wasmtime. An issue was discovered in the safe API of `Linker::func_*` APIs. These APIs were previously not sound when one `Engine` was used to create the `Linker` and then a different `Engine` was used to create a `Store` and then the `Linker` was used to instantiate a module into that `Store`. Cross-`Engine` usage of functions is not supported in Wasmtime and this can result in type confusion of function pointers, resulting in being able to safely call a function with the wrong type. Triggering this bug requires using at least two `Engine` values in an embedding and then additionally using two different values with a `Linker` (one at the creation time of the `Linker` and another when instantiating a module with the `Linker`). It's expected that usage of more-than-one `Engine` in an embedding is relatively rare since an `Engine` is intended to be a globally shared resource, so the expectation is that the impact of this issue is relatively small. The fix implemented is to change this behavior to `panic!()` in Rust instead of silently allowing it. Using different `Engine` instances with a `Linker` is a programmer bug that `wasmtime` catches at runtime. This bug has been patched and users should upgrade to Wasmtime version 0.30.0. If you cannot upgrade Wasmtime and are using more than one `Engine` in your embedding it's recommended to instead use only one `Engine` for the entire program if possible. An `Engine` is designed to be a globally shared resource that is suitable to have only one for the lifetime of an entire process. If using multiple `Engine`s is required then code should be audited to ensure that `Linker` is only used with one `Engine`.
Patch / fix
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2021-39219 updated cvss 6.3
wasmtime: Type confusion vulnerability
-
Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat productsnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.36% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 30% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 6.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
| NVD | 3.1 | 6.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
| NVD | 2.0 | 3.3 | AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P |
Affected products
- bytecodealliance wasmtime
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-843 Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type
References
-
github.com
/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/commit/b39f087414f27ae40c44449ed5d1154e03449bff
patch, third-party-advisory
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/Z2Z33FTXFQ6EOINVEQIP4DFBG53G5XIY/
vendor-advisory
-
lists.fedoraproject.org
/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WAVBRYDDUIY2ZR3K3FO4BVYJKIMJ5TP7/
vendor-advisory
-
crates.io
/crates/wasmtime
product
-
github.com
/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/security/advisories/GHSA-q879-9g95-56mx
third-party-advisory
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2021-39219
- NVD CVE-2021-39219
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