CVE-2022-43171

Vulnerability

Analysis

CVE-2022-43171 is a heap-buffer-overflow vulnerability identified in the LIEF library (version 0.12.1) in the function LIEF::MachO::BinaryParser::parse_dyldinfo_generic_bind. The issue occurs when parsing a maliciously crafted Mach-O file. The root cause is insufficient validation of dyld info bind data, leading to an out-of-bounds read on the heap [1].

Exploitation

An attacker can trigger this vulnerability by providing a specially crafted Mach-O file to an application that uses LIEF to parse Mach-O files, such as security analyzers, packers, or fuzzers. The attack requires no special privileges beyond the ability to supply the malicious file to the vulnerable library. The overflow is triggered during the parsing process when LIEF attempts to access segment commands using an index derived from corrupted data, as shown in the AddressSanitizer report: "Indirect symbol index is out of range" and subsequent heap-buffer-overflow at ref_iterator dereference [1].

Impact

Successful exploitation leads to a denial of service (DoS) due to the heap-buffer-overflow, potentially causing application crashes. The vulnerability can also lead to memory corruption, which in some environments could be leveraged for further exploitation, although the primary impact as documented is DoS [3].

Mitigation

The issue was reported via LIEF's GitHub issue tracker and is fixed in subsequent releases. Users should update to LIEF version 0.12.2 or later. The advisory database for PyPI also notes this vulnerability for the Python package, underscoring the need for upgraded versions [4].