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CVE-2022-4450 High

Double free after calling PEM_read_bio_ex

The function PEM_read_bio_ex() reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case PEM_read_bio_ex() will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack. The functions PEM_read_bio() and PEM_read() are simple wrappers around PEM_read_bio_ex() and therefore these functions are also directly affected. These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL functions including PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex() and SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file() which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the header argument if PEM_read_bio_ex() returns a failure code. These locations include the PEM_read_bio_TYPE() functions as well as the decoders introduced in OpenSSL 3.0. The OpenSSL asn1parse command line application is also impacted by this issue.

Exploit probability 20.4%
Published February 8, 2023
Required by Not available
Last source change August 12, 2026

02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE

Affected packages

Unknown Unknown

8 explicit affected versions

crates.io openssl-src
crates.io openssl-src

03 / CONNECTIONS

Connected vulnerabilities

04 / EVIDENCE

Source records

Open Source Vulnerabilities GHSA-v5w6-wcm8-jm4q

The function `PEM_read_bio_ex()` reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case `PEM_read_bio_ex()` will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack. The functions `PEM_read_bio()` and `PEM_read()` are simple wrappers around `PEM_read_bio_ex()` and therefore these functions are also directly affected. These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL functions including `PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex()` and `SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file()` which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the header argument if `PEM_read_bio_ex()` returns a failure code. These locations include the `PEM_read_bio_TYPE()` functions as well as the decoders introduced in OpenSSL 3.0.

View original source
Open Source Vulnerabilities RUSTSEC-2023-0010

The function `PEM_read_bio_ex()` reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case `PEM_read_bio_ex()` will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack. The functions `PEM_read_bio()` and `PEM_read()` are simple wrappers around `PEM_read_bio_ex()` and therefore these functions are also directly affected. These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL functions including `PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex()` and `SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file()` which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the header argument if `PEM_read_bio_ex()` returns a failure code. These locations include the `PEM_read_bio_TYPE()` functions as well as the decoders introduced in OpenSSL 3.0.

View original source
Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2022-4450

The function PEM_read_bio_ex() reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case PEM_read_bio_ex() will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack. The functions PEM_read_bio() and PEM_read() are simple wrappers around PEM_read_bio_ex() and therefore these functions are also directly affected. These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL functions including PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex() and SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file() which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the header argument if PEM_read_bio_ex() returns a failure code. These locations include the PEM_read_bio_TYPE() functions as well as the decoders introduced in OpenSSL 3.0. The OpenSSL asn1parse command line application is also impacted by this issue.

View original source

05 / REFERENCES

Further evidence