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CVE-2026-34987

CRITICAL

Wasmtime with Winch compiler backend on aarch64 may allow a sandbox-escaping memory access

Published April 10, 2026Updated April 22, 2026Source: osv

Summary

### Impact Wasmtime with its Winch (baseline) non-default compiler backend may allow properly constructed guest Wasm to access host memory outside of its linear-memory sandbox. This vulnerability requires use of the Winch compiler (`-Ccompiler=winch`). By default, Wasmtime uses its Cranelift backend, not Winch. With Winch, the same incorrect assumption is present in theory on both aarch64 and x86-64. The aarch64 case has an observed-working proof of concept, while the x86-64 case is theoretical and may not be reachable in practice. This Winch compiler bug can allow the Wasm guest to access memory before or after the linear-memory region, independently of whether pre- or post-guard regions are configured. The accessible range in the initial bug proof-of-concept is up to 32KiB before the start of memory, or ~4GiB after the start of memory, independently of the size of pre- or post-guard regions or the use of explicit or guard-region-based bounds checking. However, the underlying bug assumes a 32-bit memory offset stored in a 64-bit register has its upper bits cleared when it may not, and so closely related variants of the initial proof-of-concept may be able to access truly arbitrary memory in-process. This could result in a host process segmentation fault (DoS), an arbitrary data leak from the host process, or with a write, potentially an arbitrary RCE. ### Patches Wasmtime 43.0.1, 42.0.2, and 36.0.7 have been released with fixes for this issue. ### Workaround There are no workarounds within the Winch compiler backend while using the affected versions. Users of Wasmtime are encouraged either to upgrade to patched versions or, if that is not possible, use the Cranelift compiler backend.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Cargo
Update wasmtime to 36.0.7 or later
cargo update -p wasmtime --precise 36.0.7
Cargo
Update wasmtime to 42.0.2 or later
cargo update -p wasmtime --precise 42.0.2
Cargo
Update wasmtime to 43.0.1 or later
cargo update -p wasmtime --precise 43.0.1

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (3)

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
wasmtime
crates.io
All versions36.0.7
wasmtime
crates.io
All versions42.0.2
wasmtime
crates.io
43.0.043.0.1

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

  • CWE-125
    Out-of-bounds ReadMITRE
  • CWE-787
    Out-of-bounds WriteMITRE

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.3 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-34987?
Wasmtime with Winch compiler backend on aarch64 may allow a sandbox-escaping memory access This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.3/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2026-34987?
CVE-2026-34987 affects wasmtime. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2026-34987 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.3

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Also Known As

GHSA-xx5w-cvp6-jv83
RUSTSEC-2026-0095

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