Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories
CVE-2017-14451: Ethereum: Buffer overflow
CVE-2017-14451 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0 and affects Ethereum. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.
Vulnerability description
An exploitable out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in libevm (Ethereum Virtual Machine) of CPP-Ethereum. A specially crafted smart contract code can cause an out-of-bounds read which can subsequently trigger an out-of-bounds write resulting in remote code execution. An attacker can create/send malicious smart contract to trigger this vulnerability.
Severity breakdown
CVSS v3.1 10.0: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
- Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
- Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
- User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
- Scope: Changed. Impact reaches beyond the vulnerable component to other resources.
- Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
- Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
- Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.
Underlying weakness
CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read
The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.
Affected products
- Ethereum: all versions listed by NVD