Alg DsApplication · Alg Ds Project
CVE-2020-36432
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 alg_ds crate through 2020-08-25 for Rust. There is a drop of uninitialized memory in Matrix::new().
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 · moderate confidenceThe alg_ds Rust crate contains a critical memory safety vulnerability in Matrix::new() where uninitialized memory is dropped. This can lead to information disclosure (reading sensitive data from uninitialized heap memory) and undefined behavior. The issue stems from improper memory initialization in the matrix data structure.
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
Alg DsApplication
<= 2020-08-25CVSS 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:3.1/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 alg_ds dependencySearch your project for Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock files. Look for 'alg_ds' in the dependencies section of Cargo.toml or search for 'name = "alg_ds"' in Cargo.lock.Affected if The alg_ds crate is present in your dependencies.
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Identify alg_ds versionIn Cargo.lock, find the entry for alg_ds and check the version field. If only Cargo.toml is available, run 'cargo tree -p alg_ds' to see the resolved version, or check the Cargo.toml dependency specification for version/date constraints.Affected if The version is dated 2020-08-25 or earlier, or the version number is <= the vulnerable release.
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Find Matrix::new() usageSearch your source code for calls to Matrix::new(), such as 'Matrix::new()' or 'alg_ds::Matrix::new()'. Review any code using the Matrix struct from this crate.Affected if Code calls Matrix::new() to create matrix instances.
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Verify memory initialization behaviorIf you have access to the alg_ds source code (check your cargo vendor directory or the crate source), examine the Matrix::new() implementation in the matrix module. Look for whether the data vector is initialized with default values or left uninitialized.Affected if Matrix::new() leaves the underlying data structure uninitialized (e.g., uses Vec::with_capacity without subsequent initialization).
You are affected if your project depends on the alg_ds crate version dated 2020-08-25 or earlier AND your code uses Matrix::new(), which can cause uninitialized heap memory to be dropped and potentially leak sensitive data.
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 · scopedUpdate the alg_ds crate to a version beyond 2020-08-25 that contains the memory initialization fix. Audit all code paths using Matrix::new() to ensure no sensitive data can be leaked through uninitialized memory reads.
Latest version of alg_ds crate (post-2020-08-25 with security fix)
- 1. Check your Cargo.lock file for the alg_ds crate version currently in use
- 2. Run 'cargo update alg_ds' or 'cargo upgrade alg_ds' to get the latest patched version
- 3. Verify the new version is newer than the 2020-08-25 release that contained the vulnerability
- 4. Rebuild your project with 'cargo build' to incorporate the fixed version
- 5. Run cargo-audit or cargo-deny to verify the vulnerability is resolved
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Alg Ds
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-36432 — 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-2020-36432 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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