Head-state desynchronization via unverified L1 deposit events
Published Jun 19, 2025 · Updated Jun 23, 2025
Improper exceptional-condition handling in Cardano Scaling Hydra before 0.22.0 allows remote authenticated users to desynchronize Hydra heads. hydra-node treats newly observed Cardano L1 deposit events as final and queues failed transactions without verifying that they changed the canonical ledger state. A participant who submits a signed deposit that later disappears in a reorganization or deliberately fails can corrupt head state and leave participants desynchronized or stale.
Summary
What happened
Improper exceptional-condition handling in Cardano Scaling Hydra before 0.22.0 allows remote authenticated users to desynchronize Hydra heads. hydra-node treats newly observed Cardano L1 deposit events as final and queues failed transactions without verifying that they changed the canonical ledger state. A participant who submits a signed deposit that later disappears in a reorganization or deliberately fails can corrupt head state and leave participants desynchronized or stale.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-48886
- Published
- Jun 19, 2025
- Updated
- Jun 23, 2025
- Vendor
- Cardano Scaling
- Product
- Hydra
- Classifications
- CWE-755, T1565.001
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 19, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 23, 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.
- Affected versionversion=< 0.22.0
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
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Upstream reorganization and failed-transaction proof-of-concept stepsproof of concept · unverified
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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