GHSA-2q8v-3gqq-4f8p

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    GHSA-2q8v-3gqq-4f8p

    Published: 19 Jan 2024Last Modified: 10 Sept 2026

    Summary: concat built-in can corrupt memory in vyper

    Details: ### Summary `concat` built-in can write over the bounds of the memory buffer that was allocated for it and thus overwrite existing valid data. The root cause is that the `build_IR` for `concat` doesn't properly adhere to the API of copy functions (for `>=0.3.2` the `copy_bytes` function). A contract search was performed and no vulnerable contracts were found in production. Tracked in issue https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/issues/3737 ### Details The `build_IR` allocates a new internal variable for the concatenation: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/3b310d5292c4d1448e673d7b3adb223f9353260e/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L534-L550 Notice that the buffer is allocated for the `maxlen` + 1 word to actually hold the length of the array. Later the `copy_bytes` function is used to copy the actual source arguments to the destination: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/3b310d5292c4d1448e673d7b3adb223f9353260e/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L569-L572 The `dst_data` is defined via: - `data ptr` - to skip the 1 word that holds the length - `offset` - to skip the source arguments that were already written to the buffer - the `offset` is increased via: `["set", ofst, ["add", ofst, arglen]]`, ie it is increased by the length of the source argument Now, the `copy_bytes` function has multiple control flow paths, the following ones are of interest: 1) https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/3b310d5292c4d1448e673d7b3adb223f9353260e/vyper/codegen/core.py#L270-L273 2) https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/3b310d5292c4d1448e673d7b3adb223f9353260e/vyper/codegen/core.py#L301-L320 Note that the function itself contains the following note: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/3b310d5292c4d1448e673d7b3adb223f9353260e/vyper/codegen/core.py#L245-L247 That is we can ask for a copy of `1B` yet a whole word is copied. Consider the first interesting path - if the `dst_data`'s distance to the end of the concat data buffer is `< 32B`, the `copy_op = STORE(dst, LOAD(src))` from `copy_bytes` will result in buffer overflow as it essentially will `mstore` to `dst_data` the `mload` of the source (mload will load whole word and the distance of the `dst_data` to the word boundary is `<32B`). From the two mentioned paths in `copy_bytes` it can be seen that both sources from memory and storage can cause the corruption. ### PoC The main attack vector that was found was when the `concat` is inside an `internal` function. Suppose we have an `external` function that calls `internal` one. In such case the address space is divided such that the memory for the internal function is in _lower_ portion of the adr space. As such the buffer overflow can overwrite _valid_ data of the caller. Here is a simple example: ```python #@version ^0.3.9 @internal def bar() -> uint256: sss: String[2] = concat("a", "b") return 1 @external def foo() -> int256: a: int256 = -1 b: uint256 = self.bar() return a ``` `foo` should clearly return `-1`, but it returns `452312848583266388373324160190187140051835877600158453279131187530910662655` `-1` was used intentionally due to its bit structure but the value here is fairly irelevant. In this example during the second iteration of the for loop in the `build_IR` `mload` to `dst+1` will be executed (because len('a') == 1), thus the function will write `1B` over the bounds of the buffer. The string 'b' is stored such that its right-most byte is a zero byte. So a zero byte will be written over the bounds. So when `-1` is considered it's left-most B will be overwritten to all 0. Therefore it can be seen: `452312848583266388373324160190187140051835877600158453279131187530910662655 == (2**248-1)` will output `True`. #### IR If we look at the contract's IR (vyper --no optimize -f ir), we see: ``` # Line 30 /* a: int256 = -1 */ [mstore, 320, -1 <-1>], ``` And for the second iteration of the loop in concat: ``` len, [mload, arg], [seq, [with, src, [add, arg, 32], [with, dst, [add, [add, 256 <concat destination>, 32], concat_ofst], [mstore, dst, [mload, src]]]], [set, concat_ofst, [add, concat_ofst, len]]]]], [mstore, 256 <concat destination>, concat_ofst], 256 <concat destination>]], ``` So the address of the `int` is 320. The `dst` is defined as: `[add, [add, 256 <concat destination>, 32], concat_ofst],`. In the second iteration the `concat_ofst` will be 1 because `len('a)==1` so `256+32+1 = 289`. Now this address will be `mstored` to - so the last mstored B will have the address `289+32=320` which clearly overlaps with the address of the `int a`. #### PoC 2 Due to how `immutables` are handled, they can be corrupted too: ```python #@version ^0.3.9 i: immutable(int256) @external def __init__(): i = -1 s: String[2] = concat("a", "b") @external def foo() -> int256: return i ``` Output of calling `foo()` = `452312848583266388373324160190187140051835877600158453279131187530910662655`. ### Impact The buffer overflow can result in the change of semantics of the contract. The overflow is length-dependent and thus it might go unnoticed during contract testing. However, certainly not all usages of `concat` will result in overwritten valid data as we require it to be in an `internal` function and close to the `return` statement where other memory allocations don't occur. ### Concluding remarks The bug based on the fast path in `copy_bytes` was likely introduced in: `548d35d720fb6fd8efbdc0ce525bed259a73f0b9`. `git bisect` was used between v0.3.1 and v0.3.2, `forge test` was run and the test asserted that the function indeed returns -1. For the general case, `0.3.0` and `0.3.1` are also affected.

    Affected packages

    Package

    Name: vyper

    Purl: pkg:pypi/vyper

    Affected ranges

    Type: ECOSYSTEM

    Events:

    Introduced- 0.3.0
    Fixed -0.4.0

    Affected versions

    0.3.0
    0.3.1
    0.3.10
    0.3.10rc1
    0.3.10rc2
    0.3.10rc3
    0.3.10rc4
    0.3.10rc5
    0.3.2
    0.3.3
    0.3.4
    0.3.5
    0.3.6
    0.3.7
    0.3.8
    0.3.9

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High
    GHSA-2q8v-3gqq-4f8p | CVE-DB