Vulnerability · Published Sep 18, 2023 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2023-42443Vyper vulnerable to memory corruption in certain builtins utilizing `msize`

High 8.1

In plain English

A high-severity out-of-bounds write in vyper from vyperlang. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.8% (higher than 58% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.1High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.8%top 42.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Vyper is a Pythonic Smart Contract Language for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In version 0.3.9 and prior, under certain conditions, the memory used by the builtins `raw_call`, `create_from_blueprint` and `create_copy_of` can be corrupted. For `raw_call`, the argument buffer of the call can be corrupted, leading to incorrect `calldata` in the sub-context. For `create_from_blueprint` and `create_copy_of`, the buffer for the to-be-deployed bytecode can be corrupted, leading to deploying incorrect bytecode. Each builtin has conditions that must be fulfilled for the corruption to happen. For `raw_call`, the `data` argument of the builtin must be `msg.data` and the `value` or `gas` passed to the builtin must be some complex expression that results in writing to the memory. For `create_copy_of`, the `value` or `salt` passed to the builtin must be some complex expression that results in writing to the memory. For `create_from_blueprint`, either no constructor parameters should be passed to the builtin or `raw_args` should be set to True, and the `value` or `salt` passed to the builtin must be some complex expression that results in writing to the memory. As of time of publication, no patched version exists. The issue is still being investigated, and there might be other cases where the corruption might happen. When the builtin is being called from an `internal` function `F`, the issue is not present provided that the function calling `F` wrote to memory before calling `F`. As a workaround, the complex expressions that are being passed as kwargs to the builtin should be cached in memory prior to the call to the builtin.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
PyPIvyper0.3.10GHSA-c647-pxm2-c52w
PyPIvyper0.3.10PYSEC-2023-306

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
vyperlang vyper <= 0.3.9

Weakness: CWE-787 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References