CVE-2023-25568Network attack vector

Service interruption via persistent unbounded wantlist allocations

Published May 10, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Uncontrolled resource consumption in IPFS Boxo 0.4.0 and 0.5.0 allows remote attackers to interrupt Bitswap servers via crafted requests. The bitswap/server decision engine queues unbounded WANT_BLOCK and WANT_HAVE entries per peer and retains their allocations after disconnection. Any application accepting untrusted Bitswap connections, including users of the legacy bitswap API stubs, can exhaust memory and lose service availability.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.86%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Uncontrolled resource consumption in IPFS Boxo 0.4.0 and 0.5.0 allows remote attackers to interrupt Bitswap servers via crafted requests. The bitswap/server decision engine queues unbounded WANT_BLOCK and WANT_HAVE entries per peer and retains their allocations after disconnection. Any application accepting untrusted Bitswap connections, including users of the legacy bitswap API stubs, can exhaust memory and lose service availability.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-25568
Published
May 10, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
IPFS
Product
Boxo
Classifications
CWE-770, CWE-400, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 10, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0.4.0
  2. Affected versionversion=0.5.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

IPFS · Boxoversion=0.4.0; version=0.5.0

Published CVSS scores

7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
8.2GitHub CNACVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
5.3GitHub Security AdvisoryCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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