🛡️ CVE-2023-44273 — gnark-crypto

🔴 CVSS 9.8 — Critical ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-502 NVD
9.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

gnark-crypto doesn't range check input values during ECDSA and EdDSA signature deserialization

Impact

During deserialization of ECDSA and EdDSA signatures gnark-crypto did not check that the values are in the range [1, n-1] with n being the corresponding modulus (either base field modulus in case of R in EdDSA, and scalar field modulus in case of s,r in ECDSA and s in EdDSA). As this also allowed zero inputs, then it was possible to craft a signature which lead to null pointer dereference, leading to denial-of-service of an application. This also enabled weak signature malleability when the users assumed uniqueness of the serialized signatures (but not the underlying modulo reduced values).

We are not aware of any users impacted by the bug. The implemented signature schemes in gnark-crypto complement the in-circuit versions in gnark, allowing to have end-to-end tests.

Patches

The issue was patched in PR #449. The fix returns an error during deserialization if the values do not belong to the ranges [1, n-1].

The fix is included in release v0.12.0 and upwards.

Workarounds

Users can manually validate the inputs to be in corresponding ranges when using serialized signatures (or digests of them) as unique keys.

To address the denial-of-service, the users can install hook to recover panics and recover

Resources

  • [Verichains advisory](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9xfq-8j3r-xp5g) for signature malleability.
  • Fix https://github.com/Consensys/gnark-crypto/pull/449
  • [Go blog post "Defer, Panic, and Recover"](https://go.dev/blog/defer-panic-and-recover)
  • [gnark v0.12.0](https://github.com/Consensys/gnark-crypto/releases/tag/v0.12.0)

Acknowledgement

Lack of range checks leading to signature malleability was reported by [Verichains](https://www.verichains.io/).

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

Weakness class

CVE-2023-44273 is classified as CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data. Serialised data from an untrusted source is reconstructed into objects, which can trigger code during the process.

Affected software

CVE-2023-44273 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto
  • gnark-crypto (fixed in 0.12.0)

Timeline and source

Published on 28 September 2023 and last revised on 3 March 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
verichains.io (Web)

Details

Severity CRITICAL
CVSS Score 9.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE CWE-502
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2023-09-28
Updated 2026-08-12
Modified 2026-03-03

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto — —
gnark-crypto — 0.12.0

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

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