CVE-2024-43357 — JavaScript specification issue may lead to type confusion and pointer dereference in implementations

Affected: tc39 ecma262, ecma_international ecma262

ECMA-262 is the language specification for the scripting language ECMAScript. A problem in the ECMAScript (JavaScript) specification of async generators, introduced by a May 2021 spec refactor, may lead to mis-implementation in a way that could present as a security vulnerability, such as type confusion and pointer dereference.

The internal async generator machinery calls regular promise resolver functions on IteratorResult (`{ done, value }`) objects that it creates, assuming that the IteratorResult objects will not be then-ables. Unfortunately, these IteratorResult objects inherit from `Object.prototype`, so these IteratorResult objects can be made then-able, triggering arbitrary behaviour, including re-entering the async generator machinery in a way that violates some internal invariants.

The ECMAScript specification is a living standard and the issue has been addressed at the time of this advisory's public disclosure. JavaScript engine implementors should refer to the latest specification and update their implementations to comply with the `AsyncGenerator` section.

## References

- https://github.com/tc39/ecma262/commit/1e24a286d0a327d08e1154926b3ee79820232727 - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1901411 - https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/security/advisories/GHSA-f67q-wr6w-23jq - https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=275407 - https://issues.chromium.org/issues/346692561 - https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-7652

GHSA-f67q-wr6w-23jq — Boa has an uncaught exception when transitioning the state of `AsyncGenerator` objects

Affected: crates.io: boa_engine

A wrong assumption made when handling ECMAScript's `AsyncGenerator` operations can cause an uncaught exception on certain scripts.

## Details

Boa's implementation of `AsyncGenerator` makes the assumption that the state of an `AsyncGenerator` object cannot change while resolving a promise created by methods of `AsyncGenerator` such as `%AsyncGeneratorPrototype%.next`, `%AsyncGeneratorPrototype%.return`, or `%AsyncGeneratorPrototype%.throw`. However, a carefully constructed code could trigger a state transition from a getter method for the promise's `then` property, which causes the engine to fail an assertion of this assumption, causing an uncaught exception. This could be used to create a Denial Of Service attack in applications that run arbitrary ECMAScript code provided by an external user.

## Patches

Version 0.19.0 is patched to correctly handle this case.

## Workarounds

Users unable to upgrade to the patched version would want to use [`std::panic::catch_unwind`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/panic/fn.catch_unwind.html) to ensure any exceptions caused by the engine don't impact the availability of the main application.

## References

- https://github.com/boa-dev/boa/commit/69ea2f52ed976934bff588d6b566bae01be313f7 - https://github.com/tc39/ecma262/security/advisories/GHSA-g38c-wh3c-5h9r

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CVE-2024-43357 — JavaScript specification issue may lead to type confusion and pointer dereference in implementations

GHSA-f67q-wr6w-23jq — Boa has an uncaught exception when transitioning the state of `AsyncGenerator` objects