CVE-2024-45040

gnark's commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break zero-knowledge property

Published Sep 6, 2024 CVSS 3.1 · 5.9 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Prior to version 0.11.0, commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break the zero-knowledge property. The vulnerability affects only Groth16 proofs with commitments. Notably, PLONK proofs are not affected. The vulnerability affects the zero-knowledge property of the proofs - in case the witness (secret or internal) values are small, then the attacker may be able to enumerate all possible choices to deduce the actual value. If the possible choices for the variables to be committed is large or there are many values committed, then it would be computationally infeasible to enumerate all valid choices. It doesn't affect the completeness/soundness of the proofs. The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.11.0. The patch to fix the issue is to add additional randomized value to the list of committed value at proving time to mask the rest of the values which were committed. As a workaround, the user can manually commit to a randomized value.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
EUVD EUVD EUVD-2024-2765 gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Prior to version 0.11.0, commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break the zero-knowledge property. The vulnerability affects only Groth16 proofs with commitments. Notably, PLONK proofs are not affected. The vulnerability affects the zero-knowledge property of the proofs - in case the witness (secret or internal) values are small, then the attacker may be able to enumerate all possible choices to deduce the actual value. If the possible choices for the variables to be committed is large or there are many values committed, then it would be computationally infeasible to enumerate all valid choices. It doesn't affect the completeness/soundness of the proofs. The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.11.0. The patch to fix the issue is to add additional randomized value to the list of committed value at proving time to mask the rest of the values which were committed. As a workaround, the user can manually commit to a randomized value.
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-9xcg-3q8v-7fq6 gnark commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break zero-knowledge property
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Consensys gnark-crypto
Weaknesses NVD-CWE-noinfo
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:consensys:gnark-crypto:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Consensys gnark-crypto
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Consensys
Consensys gnark
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:consensys:gnark:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Consensys
Consensys gnark
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Prior to version 0.11.0, commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break the zero-knowledge property. The vulnerability affects only Groth16 proofs with commitments. Notably, PLONK proofs are not affected. The vulnerability affects the zero-knowledge property of the proofs - in case the witness (secret or internal) values are small, then the attacker may be able to enumerate all possible choices to deduce the actual value. If the possible choices for the variables to be committed is large or there are many values committed, then it would be computationally infeasible to enumerate all valid choices. It doesn't affect the completeness/soundness of the proofs. The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.11.0. The patch to fix the issue is to add additional randomized value to the list of committed value at proving time to mask the rest of the values which were committed. As a workaround, the user can manually commit to a randomized value.
Title gnark's commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break zero-knowledge property
Weaknesses CWE-200
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Sep 6, 2024, 1:57 PM
Reserved
Aug 21, 2024, 5:53 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Sep 6, 2024, 1:15 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 7:53 AM