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GHSA-9ppp-w3g4-fh4q
No affected components available
Summary
Oj::Doc iterators (each_value, each_child, each_leaf) are vulnerable to a heap use-after-free. When a Ruby block yielded during iteration calls doc.close or d.close, the document's heap memory is freed while the C iterator is still running. When control returns from the block, the iterator reads from the freed region, producing a use-after-free accessible from pure Ruby.
Version
- Software: oj gem
- Affected: all versions with
ext/oj/fast.c - Latest tested: 3.17.1 (confirmed present)
Details
The iterators in ext/oj/fast.c follow the pattern:
// fast.c:1505 (doc_each_child)
static VALUE doc_each_child(VALUE self, ...) {
...
while (cur != NULL) {
rb_yield(...); // ← Ruby block executes here
cur = cur->next; // ← cur is now freed if block called close()
}
}
rb_yield can invoke arbitrary Ruby code, including calling close() on the Doc or any child node, which calls ruby_sized_xfree on the backing buffer. On return, the C code reads cur->next from the freed region. All three iterators are affected.
ASAN report (each_child variant):
==253632==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free on address 0x5210000bd080
READ of size 8 at 0x5210000bd080 thread T0
#0 doc_each_child /ext/oj/fast.c:1505
0x5210000bd080 is located 896 bytes inside of 4064-byte region [0x5210000bcd00, 0x5210000bdce0)
freed by thread T0 here:
#0 free
#1 ruby_sized_xfree (libruby-3.3.so.3.3)
All three iterators trigger the same freed region (fd shadow bytes):
0x5210000bd080:[fd]fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd fd
Reproduce
require 'oj'
# each_child
Oj::Doc.open('[1,2]') { |doc| doc.each_child { |d| d.close } }
# each_value
Oj::Doc.open('[1,2]') { |doc| doc.each_value { |v| doc.close } }
# each_leaf
Oj::Doc.open('[1,[2]]') { |doc| doc.each_leaf { |d| d.close } }
The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability.
Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.
Probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.
We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.
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