GothenburgBitFactory / GothenburgBitFactory/taskchampion

RUSTSEC-2026-0190: Unsoundness in `Error::downcast_mut()`

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Dominant language
Rust
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Description

> Unsoundness in `Error::downcast_mut()`

| Details | |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Status | unsound |
| Package | `anyhow` |
| Version | `1.0.102` |
| URL | [https://github.com/dtolnay/anyhow/issues/451](https://github.com/dtolnay/anyhow/issues/451) |
| Date | 2026-06-25 |

Affected versions of this crate violate borrow rules, resulting in undefined behavior, when the user adds context to an error via `Error::context` and then later calls `Error::downcast_mut` on the returned `Error`.

The flaw was corrected in commit `6e8c000` by revising how the mutable reference is constructed, avoiding inclusion of a shared reference in the resulting borrow chain.

## Example

```rust
use anyhow::Error;
use std::fmt;

#[derive(Debug)]
struct ErrorContext(&'static str);

impl fmt::Display for ErrorContext {
fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
fmt::Display::fmt(&self.0, f)
}
}

fn main() {
let mut error = Error::msg("inner error").context(ErrorContext("old context"));
let context: &mut ErrorContext = error.downcast_mut().unwrap();
context.0 = "new context";
println!("{:?}", error);
}
```

## Miri output

```
error: Undefined Behavior: trying to retag from <1538> for Unique permission at alloc602[0x38], but that tag only grants SharedReadOnly permission for this location
--> src/ptr.rs:170:18
|
170 | unsafe { &mut *self.ptr.as_ptr() }
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this error occurs as part of retag at alloc602[0x38..0x48]
|
= help: this indicates a potential bug in the program: it performed an invalid operation, but the Stacked Borrows rules it violated are still experimental
= help: see https://github.com/rust-lang/unsafe-code-guidelines/blob/master/wip/stacked-borrows.md for further information
help: <1538> was created by a SharedReadOnly retag at offsets [0x38..0x48]
--> src/ptr.rs:89:18
|
89 | ptr: NonNull::from(ptr),
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
= note: stack backtrace:
0: anyhow::ptr::Mut::<'_, ErrorContext>::deref_mut
at src/ptr.rs:170:18: 170:41
1: anyhow::error::<impl anyhow::Error>::downcast_mut::<ErrorContext>
at src/error.rs:560:18: 560:46
2: main
at examples/downcast_mut.rs:15:38: 15:58
```

See [advisory page](https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0190.html) for additional details.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Read the advisory, referenced anyhow issue, and corrective commit 6e8c000 first. Then determine how taskchampion records the anyhow dependency and verify that dependency resolution no longer uses the affected version, with the Rust test suite passing.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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