Integer overflow in table parsing extension leads to heap memory corruption

Summary

cmark-gfm is GitHub's extended version of the C reference implementation of CommonMark. Prior to versions 0.29.0.gfm.3 and 0.28.3.gfm.21, an integer overflow in cmark-gfm's table row parsing `table.c:row_from_string` may lead to heap memory corruption when parsing tables who's marker rows contain more than UINT16_MAX columns. The impact of this heap corruption ranges from Information Leak to Arbitrary Code Execution depending on how and where `cmark-gfm` is used. If `cmark-gfm` is used for rendering remote user controlled markdown, this vulnerability may lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) in applications employing affected versions of the `cmark-gfm` library. This vulnerability has been patched in the following cmark-gfm versions 0.29.0.gfm.3 and 0.28.3.gfm.21. A workaround is available. The vulnerability exists in the table markdown extensions of cmark-gfm. Disabling the table extension will prevent this vulnerability from being triggered.

Timeline

1. Mar 3, 2022, 7:35 PM UTCCVE published
2. Apr 22, 2025, 3:44 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

3. Apr 22, 2025, 6:20 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• github cmark-gfm

  fixed in 0.28.3.gfm.21; From 0.29.0.gfm.0 · fixed in 0.29.0.gfm.3

References 8