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Go Ethereum LES protocol implementation vulnerable to Denial of Service

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 14, 2022 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated May 20, 2024

Package

gomod github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum (Go)

Affected versions

< 1.8.11

Patched versions

1.8.11

Description

The GetBlockHeadersMsg handler in the LES protocol implementation in Go Ethereum (aka geth) before 1.8.11 may lead to an access violation because of an integer signedness error for the array index, which allows attackers to launch a Denial of Service attack by sending a packet with a -1 query.Skip value. The vulnerable remote node would be crashed by such an attack immediately, aka the EPoD (Ethereum Packet of Death) issue.

Specific Go Packages Affected

github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/les

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jul 5, 2018
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 14, 2022
Reviewed Feb 8, 2023
Last updated May 20, 2024

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.817%
(82nd percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2018-12018

GHSA ID

GHSA-p5gc-957x-gfw9

Source code

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