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NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2022-23636: Invalid drop of partially-initialized instances in wasmtime

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 32/100)

  • Public proof-of-concept code exists (GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.77% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 55.8% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: bytecodealliance wasmtime 0.34.1.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 5.1, NVD 8.1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to bytecodealliance wasmtime 0.34.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Wasmtime is an open source runtime for WebAssembly & WASI. Prior to versions 0.34.1 and 0.33.1, there exists a bug in the pooling instance allocator in Wasmtime's runtime where a failure to instantiate an instance for a module that defines an `externref` global will result in an invalid drop of a `VMExternRef` via an uninitialized pointer. A number of conditions listed in the GitHub Security Advisory must be true in order for an instance to be vulnerable to this issue. Maintainers believe that the effective impact of this bug is relatively small because the usage of `externref` is still uncommon and without a resource limiter configured on the `Store`, which is not the default configuration, it is only possible to trigger the bug from an error returned by `mprotect` or `VirtualAlloc`. Note that on Linux with the `uffd` feature enabled, it is only possible to trigger the bug from a resource limiter as the call to `mprotect` is skipped. The bug has been fixed in 0.34.1 and 0.33.1 and users are encouraged to upgrade as soon as possible. If it is not possible to upgrade to version 0.34.1 or 0.33.1 of the `wasmtime` crate, it is recommend that support for the reference types proposal be disabled by passing `false` to `Config::wasm_reference_types`. Doing so will prevent modules that use `externref` from being loaded entirely.

HighCVSS 8.1 · v3.1—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Feb 16, 2022
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.7% · 55th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

32

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
32 / 40 · 8.1 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
8.1
CNA · GitHub_M
5.1
3.0 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2022-23636

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
bytecodealliancewasmtime

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • bytecodealliance wasmtimebefore 0.33.1
  • bytecodealliance wasmtime0.34.0

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • bytecodealliance wasmtime

    • < 0.33.0, = 0.34.0affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
crates.iocranelift-codegenbefore 0.85.20.85.2
crates.iowasmtimefrom 0.0.0-0 · before 0.33.10.33.1
crates.iowasmtimefrom 0.0.0-0 · before 0.38.20.38.2
crates.iowasmtimefrom 0.34.0 · before 0.34.10.34.1
crates.iowasmtimebefore 0.38.20.38.2
crates.iowasmtimebefore 0.33.10.33.1

Same product

bytecodealliance: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-115893Wasmtime: Cranelift backend on aarch64 can jump to incorrect target on large Wasm `br_table` instruction
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2026-115889Wasmtime: Bit-packing in Cranelift compiler causes silent overflow and miscompilation
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2022-39394wasmtime_trap_code C API function has out of bounds write vulnerability
    39Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-39219Sep 17, 2021 · Wrong type for `Linker`-define functions when used across two `Engine`s
    25Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-39218Sep 17, 2021 · Out-of-bounds read/write and invalid free with `externref`s and GC safepoints in Wasmtime
    25Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2022-24791Mar 31, 2022 · Use after free in Wasmtime
    39Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
bytecodealliance wasmtime0.34.1 · descriptionVendor (CNA)
crates.io:cranelift-codegen0.85.2Package registry (OSV)
crates.io:wasmtime0.33.1Package registry (OSV)
crates.io:wasmtime0.34.1Package registry (OSV)
crates.io:wasmtime0.38.2Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:02026-04-27

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+1530 d
  3. TodayNov 7, 2026+1725 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-824 · Access of Uninitialized Pointer

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records