CVE-2022-23495
ProtoNode may be modified such that common method calls may panic in ipfs/go-merkledag
go-merkledag implements the 'DAGService' interface and adds two ipld node types, Protobuf and Raw for the ipfs project. A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns. A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form. Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error. This issue has been addressed across a number of pull requests. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.8.1 for a complete set of fixes. Users unable to upgrade may attempt to mitigate this issue by sanitising inputs when allowing user-input to set a new CidBuilder on a ProtoNode and by sanitising Tsize (Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.5
ProtoNode may be modified such that common method calls may panic in ipfs/go-merkledag
go-merkledag implements the 'DAGService' interface and adds two ipld node types, Protobuf and Raw for the ipfs project. A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns. A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form. Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error. This issue has been addressed across a number of pull requests. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.8.1 for a complete set of fixes. Users unable to upgrade may attempt to mitigate this issue by sanitising inputs when allowing user-input to set a new CidBuilder on a ProtoNode and by sanitising Tsize (Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
- Record
CVE-2022-23495- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-755
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-7766
7.5
go-merkledag implements the 'DAGService' interface and adds two ipld node types, Protobuf and Raw for the ipfs project. A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns. A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form. Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error. This issue has been addressed across a number of pull requests. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.8.1 for a complete set of fixes. Users unable to upgrade may attempt to mitigate this issue by sanitising inputs when allowing user-input to set a new CidBuilder on a ProtoNode and by sanitising Tsize (Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
- Record
EUVD-2022-7766- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46
7.5
go-merkledag's ProtoNode may be modified such that common method calls may panic
Impact
A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns.
A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form.
Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error.
Additionally, use of the ProtoNode#SetCidBuilder() method to set a non-functioning CidBuilder (such as one that refers to a multihash where an implementation of that hash function is not available) may cause the same methods to panic as a new CID is required but cannot be created.
Patches
Releases involving fixes for this issue are v0.8.0 and v0.8.1. The recommended minimum version is v0.8.1.
- Additional checks are performed on
ProtoNodestate changes to avoid the possibility of creating unencodeable forms, errors are returned where this is the case. - The builder passed in to
SetCidBuilder()is inspected to attempt to determine if it is usable to generate CIDs, otherwise an error is returned. - The panics have been removed and replaced with default values (empty byte slice for
RawData()and a default zero-bytes DAG-PB CID for methods involving CIDs).
Workarounds
These workarounds are available when using impacted versions to avoid panic conditions, and may be generally appropriate in order to provide meaningful feedback to users and avoid generating bad, or unexpected encoded data:
- Sanitise inputs when allowing user-input to set a new
CidBuilderon aProtoNode. - Sanitise
Tsize(Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
References
- https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9297
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/issues/90
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.0
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/91
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/92
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/93
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.1
Credit
Thanks to @mrd0ll4r for reporting the original error to Kubo!
- Record
GHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-252, CWE-755
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.5
go-merkledag implements the 'DAGService' interface and adds two ipld node types, Protobuf and Raw for the ipfs project. A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns. A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form. Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error. This issue has been addressed across a number of pull requests. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.8.1 for a complete set of fixes. Users unable to upgrade may attempt to mitigate this issue by sanitising inputs when allowing user-input to set a new CidBuilder on a ProtoNode and by sanitising Tsize (Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
- Record
CVE-2022-23495- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-755, CWE-252
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.5
ProtoNode may be modified such that common method calls may panic in ipfs/go-merkledag
go-merkledag implements the 'DAGService' interface and adds two ipld node types, Protobuf and Raw for the ipfs project. A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns. A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form. Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error. This issue has been addressed across a number of pull requests. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.8.1 for a complete set of fixes. Users unable to upgrade may attempt to mitigate this issue by sanitising inputs when allowing user-input to set a new CidBuilder on a ProtoNode and by sanitising Tsize (Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
- Record
CVE-2022-23495- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-755
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46
7.5
go-merkledag's ProtoNode may be modified such that common method calls may panic
Impact
A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns.
A ProtoNode should only be able to encode to valid DAG-PB, attempting to encode invalid DAG-PB forms will result in an error from the codec. Manipulation of an existing (newly created or decoded) ProtoNode using the modifier methods did not account for certain states that would place the ProtoNode into an unencodeable form.
Due to conformance with the github.com/ipfs/go-block-format#Block and github.com/ipfs/go-ipld-format#Node interfaces, certain methods, which internally require a re-encode if state has changed, will panic due to the inability to return an error.
Additionally, use of the ProtoNode#SetCidBuilder() method to set a non-functioning CidBuilder (such as one that refers to a multihash where an implementation of that hash function is not available) may cause the same methods to panic as a new CID is required but cannot be created.
Patches
Releases involving fixes for this issue are v0.8.0 and v0.8.1. The recommended minimum version is v0.8.1.
- Additional checks are performed on
ProtoNodestate changes to avoid the possibility of creating unencodeable forms, errors are returned where this is the case. - The builder passed in to
SetCidBuilder()is inspected to attempt to determine if it is usable to generate CIDs, otherwise an error is returned. - The panics have been removed and replaced with default values (empty byte slice for
RawData()and a default zero-bytes DAG-PB CID for methods involving CIDs).
Workarounds
These workarounds are available when using impacted versions to avoid panic conditions, and may be generally appropriate in order to provide meaningful feedback to users and avoid generating bad, or unexpected encoded data:
- Sanitise inputs when allowing user-input to set a new
CidBuilderon aProtoNode. - Sanitise
Tsize(Link#Size) values such that they are a reasonable byte-size for sub-DAGs where derived from user-input.
References
- https://github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9297
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/issues/90
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.0
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/91
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/92
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/93
- https://github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.1
Credit
Thanks to @mrd0ll4r for reporting the original error to Kubo!
- Record
GHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-252, CWE-755
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2022-1155 No score
Panic in github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag
A ProtoNode may be modified in such a way as to cause various encode errors which will trigger a panic on common method calls that don't allow for error returns.
Additionally, use of the ProtoNode.SetCidBuilder() method to set non-functioning CidBuilder (such as one that refers to a multihash where an implementation of that hash function is not available) may cause the same methods to panic as a new CID is required but cannot be created.
- Record
GO-2022-1155- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledagGo |
0.4.0 up to 0.8.1 | 0.8.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2022-23495 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Ipfs Go-merkledag, published December 8, 2022. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.38%, the 72nd percentile. Fixed in github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag 0.8.1.
References
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/security/advisories/GHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/issues/90
github.com/ipfs/kubo/issues/9297
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/91
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/92
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/pull/93
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed_acyclic_graph
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.0
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag/releases/tag/v0.8.1
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-23495
pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2022-1155
github.com/advisories/GHSA-x39j-h85h-3f46
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2022/23xxx/CVE-2022-23495.json
github.com/ipfs/go-merkledag