CVE-2026-34942
CVE-2026-34942 is a CWE-129 vulnerability in wasmtime. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-34942 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Wasmtime panics when transcoding misaligned utf-16 strings
Real-World Exposure
wasmtime🦀wasmtime🦀wasmtime🦀wasmtimeReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Wasmtime is a runtime for WebAssembly. Prior to 24.0.7, 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1, Wasmtime's implementation of transcoding strings into the Component Model's utf16 or latin1+utf16 encodings improperly verified the alignment of reallocated strings. This meant that unaligned pointers could be passed to the host for transcoding which would trigger a host panic. This panic is possible to trigger from malicious guests which transfer very specific strings across components with specific addresses. Host panics are considered a DoS vector in Wasmtime as the panic conditions are controlled by the guest in this situation. This vulnerability is fixed in 24.0.7, 36.0.7, 42.0.2, and 43.0.1.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | wasmtime | all versions | 24.0.7 |
| 🦀crates.io | wasmtime | ≥ 25.0.0&&< 36.0.7 | 36.0.7 |
| 🦀crates.io | wasmtime | ≥ 37.0.0&&< 42.0.2 | 42.0.2 |
| 🦀crates.io | wasmtime | ≥ 43.0.0&&< 43.0.1 | 43.0.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for wasmtime. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update wasmtime to 24.0.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-34942 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-34942 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-34942. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-34942 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-34942 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.