Vulnerability · Published Jul 28, 2022 · Assigned by mitre
CVE-2021-41556
Critical 10.0
In plain English
A critical-severity out-of-bounds read in the squirrel3 package (Debian). Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 2.9% (higher than 87% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
sqclass.cpp in Squirrel through 2.2.5 and 3.x through 3.1 allows an out-of-bounds read (in the core interpreter) that can lead to Code Execution. If a victim executes an attacker-controlled squirrel script, it is possible for the attacker to break out of the squirrel script sandbox even if all dangerous functionality such as File System functions has been disabled. An attacker might abuse this bug to target (for example) Cloud services that allow customization via SquirrelScripts, or distribute malware through video games that embed a Squirrel Engine.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:13 | squirrel3 | 3.1-8.2+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2021-41556 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | squirrel3 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-41556 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | squirrel3 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-41556 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | squirrel3 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-41556 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | squirrel3 | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-41556 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-125 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- https://github.com/albertodemichelis/squirrel/commit/23a0620658714b996d20da3d4dd1a0dcf9b0bd98 x_refsource_MISC
- http://www.squirrel-lang.org/#download x_refsource_MISC
- https://blog.sonarsource.com/squirrel-vm-sandbox-escape/ x_refsource_MISC
- FEDORA-2022-e81c0db364 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- FEDORA-2022-e139f256f6 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- https://www.sonarsource.com/blog/squirrel-vm-sandbox-escape/ exploit