CVE-2018-20998
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered in the arrayfire crate before 3.6.0 for Rust. Addition of the repr() attribute to an enum is mishandled, leading to memory corruption.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe arrayfire Rust crate before version 3.6.0 improperly handles the repr() attribute when applied to enums, causing memory corruption. The repr() attribute controls enum memory representation (e.g., repr(C), repr(u8)), and mishandling leads to out-of-bounds memory access or data corruption when enum values are processed.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 3.6.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate arrayfire dependency in projectSearch Cargo.toml files in your project for 'arrayfire' under [dependencies] or [dev-dependencies] and note the version specifiedAffected if arrayfire version is less than 3.6.0 or no version is specified (defaults to latest which may be older)
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Check resolved arrayfire version in lock fileOpen Cargo.lock and search for 'name = "arrayfire"' then read the 'version' field under [[package]]Affected if version field shows a version lower than 3.6.0 (e.g., 3.5.0, 3.5.1, etc.)
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Identify enums with repr() attributes in codeSearch source files for '#[repr(' patterns, particularly on enum declarations: '#[repr(u8)]', '#[repr(C)]', etc.Affected if Your codebase contains enums decorated with #[repr()] attributes that are used with arrayfire functions
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Check enum usage with arrayfire APISearch for code patterns where your repr()-decorated enums are passed to arrayfire functions, especially in loops or data processing operationsAffected if Code passes enum values (or collections of enum values) to arrayfire functions for processing or storage
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Scan for memory corruption symptomsRun application with memory debugging tools (e.g., rust-audit, valgrind if applicable, or AddressSanitizer) and look for out-of-bounds access errorsAffected if Out-of-bounds read/write errors occur when processing enum data through arrayfire and arrayfire version is < 3.6.0
You are affected if your project uses the arrayfire crate version lower than 3.6.0 AND your code uses #[repr()] decorated enums that are processed through arrayfire functions.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped3.6.0
Update the arrayfire crate to version 3.6.0 or later in Cargo.toml and verify no breaking changes affect application functionality.
arrayfire crate version 3.6.0
- Locate your Cargo.toml file that declares arrayfire as a dependency
- Update the arrayfire dependency version to 3.6.0 or later (e.g., arrayfire = "3.6.0")
- Run `cargo update arrayfire` to fetch the updated version
- Run `cargo build` to rebuild the project with the patched crate
- Verify the build completes successfully and test your application
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20998 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-20998 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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