CVE-2024-0232: SQLite Use-After-Free Vulnerability

CVE-2024-0232 Overview

A heap use-after-free vulnerability has been identified in SQLite within the jsonParseAddNodeArray() function in sqlite3.c. This memory corruption flaw allows a local attacker to leverage a victim to pass specially crafted malicious input to the application, potentially causing a crash and leading to a denial of service condition.

Critical Impact

Local attackers can exploit this use-after-free vulnerability to crash applications using affected SQLite versions, resulting in denial of service conditions that impact system availability.

Affected Products

• SQLite (all vulnerable versions prior to fix)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 and 9.0
• Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8.0
• Fedora 39

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-01-16 - CVE-2024-0232 published to NVD
• 2024-11-21 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-0232

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-416 (Use After Free), a memory corruption issue that occurs when a program continues to use a pointer after the memory it references has been freed. In the context of SQLite's JSON parsing functionality, the jsonParseAddNodeArray() function in sqlite3.c improperly handles memory during JSON parsing operations.

When specially crafted malicious input is processed through the JSON parsing routines, the application may attempt to access memory that has already been deallocated. This leads to undefined behavior that manifests as application crashes, causing denial of service conditions for any application relying on the affected SQLite library.

The vulnerability requires local access and user interaction, meaning an attacker must convince a victim to process a malicious input file or data through an application that uses SQLite's JSON functionality.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in improper memory lifecycle management within the jsonParseAddNodeArray() function. During JSON array node parsing, the function deallocates memory but retains a reference (dangling pointer) that is subsequently accessed. This occurs because the memory management logic fails to properly track the allocation state of nodes added to the JSON parse tree.

The use-after-free condition is triggered when the JSON parser attempts to manipulate or access node data after the underlying heap memory has been returned to the allocator. This type of vulnerability is particularly dangerous in C applications where manual memory management is required.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for CVE-2024-0232 requires local access to the system and user interaction to be successful. The exploitation scenario involves the following steps:

1. An attacker crafts a malicious JSON payload specifically designed to trigger the use-after-free condition in jsonParseAddNodeArray()
2. The attacker delivers this payload to a victim, either through a malicious file or data input
3. The victim's application processes the malicious JSON using SQLite's JSON1 extension functions
4. The vulnerable code path is triggered, causing the heap use-after-free
5. The application crashes, resulting in denial of service

While the current assessment indicates no remote code execution capability, use-after-free vulnerabilities can sometimes be escalated to achieve code execution under specific heap layout conditions.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-0232

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected application crashes in programs utilizing SQLite with JSON functionality
• Core dumps or crash logs showing memory access violations in sqlite3.c or jsonParseAddNodeArray()
• Abnormal termination of database-backed services processing JSON data
• Increased frequency of segmentation faults in SQLite-dependent applications

Detection Strategies

• Monitor system logs for SIGSEGV or SIGABRT signals from applications using SQLite
• Implement application crash monitoring for services that process JSON through SQLite
• Deploy memory error detection tools such as AddressSanitizer during testing environments
• Review application logs for repeated crashes when processing specific JSON inputs

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure crash reporting to capture detailed stack traces when SQLite-based applications fail
• Set up alerting for unusual patterns of application restarts or service failures
• Monitor resource utilization for applications processing external JSON data
• Implement input validation logging to identify suspicious JSON payloads before processing

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-0232

Immediate Actions Required

• Update SQLite to the latest patched version available from your distribution
• Apply security patches from Red Hat, Fedora, or other Linux distributions as they become available
• Audit applications that process untrusted JSON data through SQLite
• Consider implementing input validation to reject malformed or suspicious JSON before SQLite processing

Patch Information

Security advisories and patches are available from multiple vendors. Organizations should review the Red Hat CVE-2024-0232 Advisory for patch availability on Enterprise Linux systems. The Red Hat Bug Report #2243754 contains additional technical details about the fix.

Fedora users should consult the Fedora Package Announcement for updated package information. NetApp customers can reference the NetApp Security Advisory NTAP-20240315-0007 for affected products and remediation guidance.

Workarounds

• Restrict processing of untrusted JSON data through SQLite until patches are applied
• Implement strict input validation and sanitization for JSON data before database operations
• Consider sandboxing applications that must process untrusted JSON input
• Deploy application-level monitoring to detect and automatically restart crashed services

# Check installed SQLite version on Linux systems
sqlite3 --version

# Check for available updates on Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf check-update sqlite

# Apply security updates
sudo dnf update sqlite