MoleculeApplication · Nervos
CVE-2021-45697
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 molecule crate before 0.7.2 for Rust. A FixVec partial read has an incorrect result.
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 molecule crate (a Rust serialization library) before version 0.7.2 has a vulnerability in FixVec partial read operations that produces incorrect results. FixVec is a dynamically-sized vector type in the crate's type system, and the incorrect read could lead to data corruption or logic errors in applications using this library.
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
MoleculeApplication
< 0.7.2CVSS 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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Check molecule crate version in Cargo.lockSearch for 'name = "molecule"' in your Cargo.lock file and read the version field (e.g., version = "0.7.1")Affected if The version listed is less than 0.7.2 (e.g., 0.7.0, 0.7.1, or any 0.x version below 0.7.2)
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Check molecule dependency version in Cargo.tomlInspect your project's Cargo.toml file for 'molecule' under [dependencies] or [dev-dependencies] and note the version specifierAffected if The specified version is any range that resolves to below 0.7.2 (such as "0.7", "0.7.0", "0.7.1", or ">=0.1,<0.7.2")
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Identify FixVec usage in source codeSearch your codebase for imports or usage of 'FixVec' from the molecule crate (e.g., 'use molecule::FixVec' or 'molecule::FixVec')Affected if FixVec type is imported and used in your application code
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Verify partial read operations on FixVecReview code that calls methods on FixVec instances that perform partial or slice-based reads (such as methods that read a subset of vector elements without reading the entire vector)Affected if Your code performs partial read operations on FixVec instances, as this is the specific operation with the vulnerability
You are affected if your project depends on the molecule crate version below 0.7.2 AND your code uses FixVec with partial read operations, as this combination triggers the incorrect results vulnerability in the library.
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 · scoped0.7.2
Update the molecule crate dependency to version 0.7.2 or later to obtain the patched version.
molecule 0.7.2
- Update the molecule dependency in your Cargo.toml file to version 0.7.2 or later: molecule = "0.7.2"
- Run `cargo update molecule` or `cargo build` to fetch and compile the fixed version
- Verify the update was successful by checking `cargo tree | grep molecule`
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Molecule
Scoped from the published advisory
- 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-2021-45697 — 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-2021-45697 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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