CVE-2026-40092

nimiq-keys: Unchecked Ed25519 signature length in TaggedPublicKey::verify causes remote node panic via DHT

Published May 20, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
nimiq-blockchain provides persistent block storage for Nimiq's Rust implementation. In versions 1.3.0 and below, a malicious network peer can crash any Nimiq full node by publishing a crafted Kademlia DHT record. The maliciously crafted record would contain a TaggedSigned<ValidatorRecord, KeyPair> with a signature field whose byte length is not exactly 64 in order to cause a crash. When the victim node's DHT verifier calls TaggedSigned::verify, execution reaches Ed25519Signature::from_bytes(sig).unwrap() in the TaggedPublicKey implementation for Ed25519PublicKey. The from_bytes call fails because ed25519_zebra::Signature::try_from rejects slices not 64 bytes, and the unwrap() panics. The BLS TaggedPublicKey implementation correctly returns false on error; only the Ed25519 implementation panics. This issue has been fixed in version 1.4.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-27w2-87xv-37c6 nimiq-keys: Unchecked Ed25519 signature length in TaggedPublicKey::verify causes remote node panic via DHT
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Nimiq
Nimiq core-rs-albatross
Vendors & Products Nimiq
Nimiq core-rs-albatross
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description nimiq-blockchain provides persistent block storage for Nimiq's Rust implementation. In versions 1.3.0 and below, a malicious network peer can crash any Nimiq full node by publishing a crafted Kademlia DHT record. The maliciously crafted record would contain a TaggedSigned<ValidatorRecord, KeyPair> with a signature field whose byte length is not exactly 64 in order to cause a crash. When the victim node's DHT verifier calls TaggedSigned::verify, execution reaches Ed25519Signature::from_bytes(sig).unwrap() in the TaggedPublicKey implementation for Ed25519PublicKey. The from_bytes call fails because ed25519_zebra::Signature::try_from rejects slices not 64 bytes, and the unwrap() panics. The BLS TaggedPublicKey implementation correctly returns false on error; only the Ed25519 implementation panics. This issue has been fixed in version 1.4.0.
Title nimiq-keys: Unchecked Ed25519 signature length in TaggedPublicKey::verify causes remote node panic via DHT
Weaknesses CWE-252
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
May 21, 2026, 12:23 PM
Reserved
Apr 9, 2026, 12:39 AM
Status
Deferred
Published
May 20, 2026, 10:16 PM
Modified
Jul 23, 2026, 3:10 PM