CVE-2022-1297
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2022-1297 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the r_bin_ne_get_entrypoints function of radare2, a reverse engineering framework. Attackers can exploit this to read sensitive memory contents or cause application crashes. Users of radare2 versions prior to 5.6.8 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- radare2
📦 What is this software?
Radare2 by Radare
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Information disclosure of sensitive memory contents, potentially including credentials, cryptographic keys, or other application data, leading to complete system compromise.
Likely Case
Application crash (denial of service) or limited information disclosure from adjacent memory regions.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper memory protections (ASLR, DEP) are enabled and the application runs with limited privileges.
🎯 Exploit Status
Proof-of-concept available in commit references; exploitation requires user to analyze malicious NE file.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 5.6.8 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/radareorg/radare2/commit/0a557045476a2969c7079aec9eeb29d02f2809c6
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Update radare2 to version 5.6.8 or later. 2. On Linux/macOS: Use package manager or compile from source. 3. On Windows: Download updated binary from official repository.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Avoid NE file analysis
allTemporarily avoid analyzing New Executable (NE) format files with vulnerable radare2 versions.
Run with reduced privileges
linuxExecute radare2 with minimal user privileges to limit impact of potential memory disclosure.
sudo -u nobody radare2 [file]
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict radare2 usage to trusted users only
- Implement application allowlisting to prevent execution of untrusted radare2 instances
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check radare2 version: if below 5.6.8, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
r2 -v | head -1Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm radare2 version is 5.6.8 or higher after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes with segmentation faults when processing NE files
- Unusual memory access patterns in system logs
Network Indicators:
- Typically none - local exploitation only
SIEM Query:
Process:radare2 AND (EventID:1000 OR Signal:SIGSEGV)