GHSA-924w-mwc9-86m8 json
Aliasing violations in splice, mutable iteration and cursors
published 2026-10-24 15 d ago modified 2026-10-26 13 d ago also RUSTSEC-2026-0408
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- —
- no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Four code paths create a pointer whose permission is later revoked, then write through it. Miri reports each as undefined behaviour under both the Tree Borrows and Stacked Borrows aliasing models (CWE-758). All four are reachable from safe code with standard `Ord` types.
1. **Splice back-pointer.** `split_off`, `split_off_index` and `append` stored the first spliced node's `prev` pointer from a reference to the head, then wrote through that same reference, invalidating the stored pointer. A later `pop_first` or `pop_front` writes through it. This affects all four collections. 2. **`SkipMap::range_mut` back pointer.** With an `Included` or `Excluded` upper bound, the back pointer came from a shared reference. `next_back` hands out `&mut V` through it, and writing to that value is undefined behaviour. 3. **`IterMut::next_back` reads a yielded node.** In `SkipList` and `SkipMap`, `next_back` read the predecessor node even after the front end had yielded it as `&mut`. The read freezes the caller's reference, and the caller's next write through it is undefined behaviour. This affects `iter_mut`, `values_mut` and `range_mut` used from both ends. 4. **Cursor list pointer.** `lower_bound_mut` and `upper_bound_mut` on `OrderedSkipList` and `SkipSet` (`cursor` feature) took the cursor's list pointer, then searched through `&self`. A comparator with interior-mutable state, such as a `Cell` call counter, wrote to the list's memory through that shared borrow and invalidated the cursor's pointer. The comparator can be a fully consistent order. `SkipMap` cursors are not affected.
No miscompilation has been observed in an optimised build. A future compiler may still optimise on the violated aliasing assumptions.
The flaws were corrected in 1.3.0. Each fix derives the pointer used for mutation from the collection's long-lived allocation pointers, and each has a Miri regression test.
Patch / fix
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| crates.io | skiplist | >=0.0.0-0, <1.3.0 |
1.3.0 |
References
Sources
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.