CVE-2022-24791 | Use after free in Wasmtime

Wasmtime is a standalone JIT-style runtime for WebAssembly, using Cranelift. There is a use after free vulnerability in Wasmtime when both running Wasm that uses externrefs and enabling epoch interruption in Wasmtime. If you are not explicitly enabling epoch interruption (it is disabled by default) then you are not affected. If you are explicitly disabling the Wasm reference types proposal (it is enabled by default) then you are also not affected. The use after free is caused by Cranelift failing to emit stack maps when there are safepoints inside cold blocks. Cold blocks occur when epoch interruption is enabled. Cold blocks are emitted at the end of compiled functions, and change the order blocks are emitted versus defined. This reordering accidentally caused Cranelift to skip emitting some stack maps because it expected to emit the stack maps in block definition order, rather than block emission order. When Wasmtime would eventually collect garbage, it would fail to find live references on the stack because of the missing stack maps, think that they were unreferenced garbage, and therefore reclaim them. Then after the collection ended, the Wasm code could use the reclaimed-too-early references, which is a use after free. Patches have been released in versions 0.34.2 and 0.35.2, which fix the vulnerability. All Wasmtime users are recommended to upgrade to these patched versions. If upgrading is not an option for you at this time, you can avoid the vulnerability by either: disabling the Wasm reference types proposal, config.wasm_reference_types(false); or by disabling epoch interruption if you were previously enabling it. config.epoch_interruption(false).

Published: 2022-03-31 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-24791 is rated Moderate Risk (54.6/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.10%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-24791

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.39% 1.10% +0.71%
2 2026-06-10 0.47% 0.39% -0.08%
3 2025-12-31 0.47%

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-24791

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.2 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-24791

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-24791

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-24791

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-24791 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (rust-wasmtime), 3 status rows across 3 suites (forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-24791
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-24791 medium priority: Ubuntu including 7 source packages (firefox, mozjs38, …), 77 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 45, ignored 25, released 5, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-24791

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-24791

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
bytecodealliance wasmtime >= 0.34.0, < 0.34.2 cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:*
bytecodealliance wasmtime >= 0.35.0, < 0.35.2 cpe:2.3:a:bytecodealliance:wasmtime:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:*

References for CVE-2022-24791

cvelogic Threat Intelligence