GitHub Advisoryadvisory · crates.io
GHSA-vfvv-c25p-m7mm rkyv: Panic safety bugs in `InlineVec::clear` and `SerVec::clear` enable arbitrary code execution
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Ecosystem
- crates.io
- Packages
- rkyv
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-415, CWE-416
- Reviewed
- 2026-05-15
Affected packages
• crates.io rkyv: >= 0.8.0, < 0.8.16 → fixed in 0.8.16
Description
`InlineVec::clear()` and `SerVec::clear()` in `rkyv` were not panic-safe. Both functions iterate over their elements and call `drop_in_place` on each, updating `self.len` only *after* the loop. If an element's `Drop` implementation panics during the loop, `self.len` is left at its original value.
A subsequent invocation of `clear()` on the same container then re-visits the already-freed elements:
• `InlineVec::clear()` is called again from `InlineVec`'s own `Drop` implementation when the value is later dropped.
• `SerVec::clear()` is called again by `SerVec::with_capacity()` after the user closure returns.
Technical Impact
• CWE-415 (Double Free): Heap corruption when element type holds `Box`
• CWE-416 (Use-After-Free): Memory corruption when element reads from heap during `Drop`
Both vulnerabilities are triggerable entirely from safe Rust via `std::panic::catch_unwind` and require no special privileges.