Hosted cargo vex attests not_affected while Cargo.lock also builds an unpatched crates.io copy of the same crate@version

[mikolalysenko]

[agent] Found by the scheduled Cargo bug-hunt routine (ledger #315).

Summary

After scan --mode hosted pins cfg-if 1.0.4 to its per-patch sparse registry, a dependency added later that also depends on cfg-if resolves its own crates.io cfg-if 1.0.4. Cargo can't unify packages from different sources, so Cargo.lock then holds two cfg-if 1.0.4 entries: the Socket one, used by the root crate, and the crates.io one, used by the new dependency. The build compiles both, so the new dependency links the unpatched bytes. socket-patch vex still emits pkg:cargo/cfg-if@1.0.4 as not_affected ("Patched via Socket patch … (redirected)") with no warning.

scan already refuses this exact graph up front (redirect_cargo_transitive_dependents, "crc32fast compiled the unpatched crates.io copy while scan reported the crate redirected"). Post-scan vex has no equivalent guard, so the same graph is attested once it appears after the scan, for example after cargo add, cargo update or a merge.

Impact

This is a false VEX attestation: the shipped binary contains the vulnerable crate, and the VEX document says it doesn't. Adding a dependency after a hosted scan is the normal workflow. Cargo picks the same version whenever the patched version is the newest compatible release, which is common for a fresh security patch.

Repro (Linux, cargo 1.93.1 and 1.97.0)

I used a scratch copy of crates/socket-patch-cli/tests/e2e_redirect_cargo_shapes.rs (the wiremock sparse-registry harness), with the plain cfg-if = "1.0.4" consumer shape. After the harness's fresh checkout plus cargo fetch --locked and cargo build --locked --offline:

# fresh checkout of the hosted-scanned project
sed -i 's/^\[dependencies\]$/[dependencies]\ncrc32fast = "=1.5.0"/' Cargo.toml
cargo build                                              # crc32fast pulls crates.io cfg-if
cargo update -p cfg-if@1.0.5 --precise 1.0.4             # = the case where the patched version is the newest release
cargo build --locked                                     # ok: "Downloaded cfg-if v1.0.4 … Compiling cfg-if v1.0.4" (crates.io)
socket-patch vex --output doc.vex.json --product pkg:cargo/consumer@0.1.0 \
  --patch-server-url $MOCK --api-url $MOCK --org o --api-token fake --cwd .

Resulting Cargo.lock:

[[package]]
name = "cfg-if"
version = "1.0.4"
source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
checksum = "9330f8b2…"

[[package]]
name = "cfg-if"
version = "1.0.4"
source = "sparse+http://127.0.0.1:34849/patch-registry/cargo/<token>/c1f90104-…/index/"
checksum = "cb5ea012…"

[[package]]
name = "crc32fast"
version = "1.5.0"
dependencies = [
 "cfg-if 1.0.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
]

cargo tree -i cfg-if@1.0.4 reports the spec as ambiguous, listing both sources. The vex output (exit 0):

"products": [{"@id": "pkg:cargo/consumer@0.1.0", "subcomponents": [{"@id": "pkg:cargo/cfg-if@1.0.4"}]}],
"status": "not_affected",
"impact_statement": "Patched via Socket patch c1f90104-… (redirected)"

Reproduced 3 times: twice on 1.93.1 and once on stable 1.97.0.

Expected vs actual

• Expected (CLI_CONTRACT, "Manifest-less VEX", Contested locks): when the build resolves the same name@version from a non-Socket source beside the Socket wiring, the reference is dropped (patched_ref_unattributable) or the lockfile basis is withheld. The vlt row spells out the same-lock case: "A same-name@version node on another registry … keeps the reference but withholds the lockfile basis: only an installed tree whose every store copy verifies attests". The redirect refusal in scan documents that this graph builds an unpatched copy.
• Actual: the cargo extractor accepts the Socket-sourced entry and ignores the crates.io sibling. Verification hashes only the Socket-registry source dir, so the purl is attested not_affected.

Matrix

OS	cargo	lock	Reproduces
Linux	1.93.1	v4	yes (×2)
Linux	1.97.0 (stable)	v4	yes
macOS / Windows	any	–	untested (the logic is OS-independent)

First bad release: not bisected. Main is 045d7ec.

Suspect code

• crates/socket-patch-core/src/vex/discover/cargo.rs:435 (hosted_from_lock): there's no check for another [[package]] with the same name+version and a non-Socket source. Compare cargo_unpinnable_dependents at crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/redirect/mod.rs:1694, which scan uses to refuse the same graph.
• npm analogue: npm vendored vex and vendor --check pass while a second registry copy of the patched package@version in the same package-lock.json stays unwired and installs unpatched #588 (vendored), npm VEX attests not_affected while a bundled (inBundle) copy of the same package@version stays unpatched #325 (bundled).

[mikolalysenko]

[agent] Triaged: priority:p2 (Cargo). Shares the "same-lock unwired sibling contests the Socket ref" class with npm #588 (PR #589), but the fix lives in a different extractor (vex/discover/cargo.rs::hosted_from_lock), so it is tracked separately. No open or merged PR addresses it yet.

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