lz4_flex vulnerability

lz4_flex is a pure Rust implementation of LZ4 compression/decompression. In versions 0.11.5 and below, and 0.12.0, decompressing invalid LZ4 data can leak sensitive information from uninitialized memory or from previous decompression operations. The library fails to properly validate offset values during LZ4 "match copy operations," allowing out-of-bounds reads from the output buffer. The block-based API functions (`decompress_into`, `decompress_into_with_dict`, and others when `safe-decode` is disabled) are affected, while all frame APIs are unaffected. The impact is potential exposure of sensitive data and secrets through crafted or malformed LZ4 input. This issue has been fixed in versions 0.11.6 and 0.12.1.

Published 20 Mar 2026Updated 17 Sep 202610 sources
CVSS 8.2

What happened

lz4_flex is a pure Rust implementation of LZ4 compression/decompression. In versions 0.11.5 and below, and 0.12.0, decompressing invalid LZ4 data can leak sensitive information from uninitialized memory or from previous decompression operations. The library fails to properly validate offset values during LZ4 "match copy operations," allowing out-of-bounds reads from the output buffer. The block-based API functions (`decompress_into`, `decompress_into_with_dict`, and others when `safe-decode` is disabled) are affected, while all frame APIs are unaffected. The impact is potential exposure of sensitive data and secrets through crafted or malformed LZ4 input. This issue has been fixed in versions 0.11.6 and 0.12.1.

Affected versions

lz4_flex: < 0.11.6; >= 0.12.0, < 0.12.1 Fixed: See vendor advisory.

Why it matters

Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.

Detection & mitigation

  • Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
  • Review affected product exposure and access logs.

Public PoC references

No public PoC reference has passed the current publication threshold.