CVE-2022-35737
📋 TL;DR
This SQLite vulnerability allows array-bounds overflow when processing extremely large string arguments (billions of bytes) through certain C API functions. It affects applications using vulnerable SQLite versions that accept untrusted input through these APIs. The vulnerability can lead to memory corruption and potential code execution.
💻 Affected Systems
- SQLite
- Any software embedding SQLite
📦 What is this software?
Ontap Select Deploy Administration Utility by Netapp
View all CVEs affecting Ontap Select Deploy Administration Utility →
Sqlite by Sqlite
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution leading to complete system compromise if the vulnerable SQLite instance is exposed to untrusted input.
Likely Case
Application crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption when processing maliciously crafted large strings.
If Mitigated
No impact if input validation limits string sizes or if vulnerable functions aren't exposed to untrusted data.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires ability to supply billions of bytes to specific C API functions. Public proof-of-concept demonstrates crash but not full RCE.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 3.39.2 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://sqlite.org/releaselog/3_39_2.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download SQLite 3.39.2 or later from sqlite.org. 2. Replace vulnerable SQLite library. 3. Recompile applications if statically linked. 4. Restart affected services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input size validation
allAdd validation to limit string sizes passed to SQLite C API functions
// Code-level validation: check string length before passing to sqlite3_mprintf(), sqlite3_str_vappendf(), etc.
Memory limit enforcement
linuxUse system memory limits to prevent allocation of multi-gigabyte strings
ulimit -v 1073741824 # Limit virtual memory to 1GB
setrlimit(RLIMIT_AS, ...) # Programmatic memory limit
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation to reject strings larger than reasonable application limits
- Isolate SQLite instances processing untrusted input in sandboxed environments
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check SQLite version: sqlite3 --version. If version is between 1.0.12 and 3.39.1 inclusive, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
sqlite3 --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify SQLite version is 3.39.2 or later. Test with application-specific string processing if possible.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Application crashes with segmentation faults
- Out of memory errors when processing large strings
- Abnormal termination of SQLite-dependent services
Network Indicators:
- Unusually large payloads sent to applications using SQLite
- Repeated connection attempts with varying large data sizes
SIEM Query:
source="application.log" AND ("segmentation fault" OR "out of memory") AND process="*sqlite*"🔗 References
- https://blog.trailofbits.com/2022/10/25/sqlite-vulnerability-july-2022-library-api/
- https://kb.cert.org/vuls/id/720344
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202210-40
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220915-0009/
- https://sqlite.org/releaselog/3_39_2.html
- https://www.sqlite.org/cves.html
- https://blog.trailofbits.com/2022/10/25/sqlite-vulnerability-july-2022-library-api/
- https://kb.cert.org/vuls/id/720344
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202210-40
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220915-0009/
- https://sqlite.org/releaselog/3_39_2.html
- https://www.sqlite.org/cves.html
