Process crash via unchecked HAMT fanout allocation
Published Feb 9, 2023 · Updated Mar 10, 2025
Uncontrolled resource consumption in IPFS go-unixfs before 0.4.3 allows remote attackers to crash consumers with malformed HAMT directories. The HAMT decoder passes a directory node's unbounded fanout value into bitfield and child-table allocation without rejecting widths above 1024. A consuming application must decode attacker-controlled UnixFS data; the resulting panic interrupts its process, while oversized allocations consume virtual memory.
Summary
What happened
Uncontrolled resource consumption in IPFS go-unixfs before 0.4.3 allows remote attackers to crash consumers with malformed HAMT directories. The HAMT decoder passes a directory node's unbounded fanout value into bitfield and child-table allocation without rejecting widths above 1024. A consuming application must decode attacker-controlled UnixFS data; the resulting panic interrupts its process, while oversized allocations consume virtual memory.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-23625
- Published
- Feb 9, 2023
- Updated
- Mar 10, 2025
- Vendor
- IPFS
- Product
- go-unixfs
- Classifications
- CWE-400, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 9, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 10, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=< 0.4.3
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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