CVE-2023-40591Network attack vector

Node crash via unbounded P2P ping goroutines

Published Sep 6, 2023 · Updated Sep 26, 2024

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Ethereum Foundation go-ethereum 1.10.0 through 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to crash nodes via P2P ping floods. The P2P peer handler starts a new goroutine for every inbound ping and sends each pong independently, allowing a peer to create workers without a bound. Any unauthenticated peer that completes a P2P connection can exhaust node memory and trigger an out-of-memory crash; confidentiality and integrity are unaffected.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability1.12%
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 Ethereum Foundation go-ethereum 1.10.0 through 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to crash nodes via P2P ping floods. The P2P peer handler starts a new goroutine for every inbound ping and sends each pong independently, allowing a peer to create workers without a bound. Any unauthenticated peer that completes a P2P connection can exhaust node memory and trigger an out-of-memory crash; confidentiality and integrity are unaffected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-40591
Published
Sep 6, 2023
Updated
Sep 26, 2024
Vendor
Ethereum Foundation
Product
go-ethereum
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499.002
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 6, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 26, 2024Record 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 <1.12.1-stable
  2. Affected versionversion=< 1.12.1-stable

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Ethereum Foundation · go-ethereumversion=0 <1.12.1-stable; version=< 1.12.1-stable

Published CVSS scores

7.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499.002Service 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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