Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionGitHub Advisory
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.
AnalysisAI
Wasmtime's pooling allocator leaks linear memory contents between WebAssembly instances when configured with specific non-default settings (memory_guard_size=0, memory_reservation<4GiB, max_memory_size=memory_reservation). Affected versions 28.0.0 through 36.0.6, 42.0.0-42.0.1, and 43.0.0 allow authenticated local attackers with high attack complexity to read sensitive data from previously-mapped memory due to incorrect virtual memory permission reset logic. Vendor-released patches: 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1. No public exploit identified at time of analysis.
Technical ContextAI
Wasmtime is a WebAssembly runtime that uses a pooling allocator for efficient memory management. The vulnerability stems from a mismatch between compile-time and runtime predicates for determining when virtual memory permissions must be reset for linear memory regions. The pooling allocator reuses memory pages across WebAssembly instance boundaries; when certain configuration thresholds are met (guard size disabled, reservation below 4GiB, max memory equals reservation), the allocator incorrectly skips permission resets that the compiled code assumes will occur. Because compiled WebAssembly code relies on out-of-bounds memory accesses causing segmentation faults (a sandbox enforcement mechanism), the failure to reset VM permissions allows guest code to read unmapped regions containing data from previous instances. This is fundamentally a logic error in the memory lifecycle management of the pooling allocator (CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer), affecting Bytecode Alliance's Wasmtime runtime across versions 28.0.0 to before 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1.
RemediationAI
Upgrade Wasmtime to version 36.0.7, 42.0.2, or 43.0.1 or later, depending on your current release branch. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, verify your pooling allocator configuration: ensure that memory_guard_size is not set to 0, memory_reservation is not less than 4GiB, or max_memory_size is not equal to memory_reservation-any change to these non-default settings will prevent exploitation even on unpatched versions. The vendor fix addresses the underlying predicate mismatch in the memory permission reset logic. For embeddings relying on Wasmtime, review pooling allocator configurations and transition to default settings if security-sensitive workloads are running. Refer to GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p at https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/security/advisories/GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p for release notes and additional context.
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Same weakness CWE-119 – Buffer Overflow
View allSame technique Buffer Overflow
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-21033
GHSA-6wgr-89rj-399p