CVE-2021-42218
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2021-42218 is a memory leak vulnerability in OMPL (Open Motion Planning Library) version 1.5.2's VFRRT.cpp component. This vulnerability allows attackers to cause denial of service through resource exhaustion by repeatedly triggering the memory leak. Systems using OMPL for motion planning in robotics, autonomous vehicles, or simulation software are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- OMPL (Open Motion Planning Library)
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system crash or unavailability due to memory exhaustion, potentially disrupting critical operations in robotics or autonomous systems.
Likely Case
Degraded performance over time leading to application instability or crashes requiring manual intervention.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper memory monitoring and restart policies in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires ability to trigger VFRRT planner operations repeatedly. No authentication bypass needed if planner is accessible.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.5.3 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/ompl/ompl/issues/839
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update OMPL to version 1.5.3 or later. 2. Recompile any applications using OMPL. 3. Restart affected services or applications.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable VFRRT planner
allAvoid using the vulnerable VFRRT planner component by switching to alternative planners in OMPL.
Modify configuration to use planners other than VFRRT
Memory monitoring and restart
allImplement memory monitoring with automatic restart when memory usage exceeds thresholds.
Implement system monitoring (e.g., using systemd, supervisor, or custom scripts)
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict memory usage limits and automatic restart policies
- Isolate OMPL applications in containers with memory constraints
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check OMPL version: if using 1.5.2 and VFRRT planner is enabled, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
ompl_app --version or check OMPL header files/installationVerify Fix Applied:
Verify OMPL version is 1.5.3 or later and test VFRRT planner operations for memory stability.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Increasing memory usage over time without corresponding workload increase
- Application crashes with out-of-memory errors
Network Indicators:
- N/A - local vulnerability
SIEM Query:
Process memory usage anomalies for OMPL-related processes