CVE-2020-11105
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2020-11105 is a critical vulnerability in USC iLab cereal library (up to version 1.3.0) where serialized std::shared_ptr objects can become corrupted when memory addresses are reused. This can lead to data corruption, crashes, or potentially arbitrary code execution depending on how the serialization is used. Any application using the affected cereal library versions for serialization is vulnerable.
💻 Affected Systems
- USC iLab cereal library
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution or complete system compromise if serialization is used in security-critical contexts like authentication or deserialization of untrusted data.
Likely Case
Application crashes, data corruption, or unexpected behavior when serializing/deserializing shared pointer objects.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if serialization is only used internally with trusted data and proper input validation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Proof of concept demonstrates the memory corruption issue. Exploitation depends on how serialization is used in specific applications.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Versions after 1.3.0
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/USCiLab/cereal/issues/636
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update cereal library to version after 1.3.0. 2. Recompile all applications using cereal. 3. Restart affected services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Avoid shared_ptr serialization
allModify code to avoid serializing std::shared_ptr objects using cereal
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate systems using vulnerable cereal library from untrusted networks
- Implement strict input validation for all serialized data
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if application links against cereal library version <= 1.3.0Check Version:
Check build configuration or dependency files for cereal versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify cereal library version is > 1.3.0 and application has been recompiled📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes during serialization/deserialization
- Memory corruption errors in logs
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected serialization traffic patterns
SIEM Query:
Search for process crashes containing 'cereal' or 'serialization' in error messages