CVE-2022-23507
Light client verification not taking into account chain ID
Tendermint is a high-performance blockchain consensus engine for Byzantine fault tolerant applications. Versions prior to 0.28.0 contain a potential attack via Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature, affecting anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes). The light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client. The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks. This issue is patched in version 0.28.0. There are no workarounds.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Light client verification not taking into account chain ID
Tendermint is a high-performance blockchain consensus engine for Byzantine fault tolerant applications. Versions prior to 0.28.0 contain a potential attack via Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature, affecting anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes). The light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client. The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks. This issue is patched in version 0.28.0. There are no workarounds.
- Record
CVE-2022-23507- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-347
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-7774
Tendermint is a high-performance blockchain consensus engine for Byzantine fault tolerant applications. Versions prior to 0.28.0 contain a potential attack via Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature, affecting anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes). The light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client. The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks. This issue is patched in version 0.28.0. There are no workarounds.
- Record
EUVD-2022-7774- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-xqqc-c5gw-c5r5
Tendermint light client verification not taking into account chain ID
Impact
Anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes).
At present, the light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client.
The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks.
Patches
Users of the light client-related crates can currently upgrade to v0.28.0.
Workarounds
None
References
- Record
GHSA-xqqc-c5gw-c5r5- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-347
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
Tendermint is a high-performance blockchain consensus engine for Byzantine fault tolerant applications. Versions prior to 0.28.0 contain a potential attack via Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature, affecting anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes). The light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client. The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks. This issue is patched in version 0.28.0. There are no workarounds.
- Record
CVE-2022-23507- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-347
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Light client verification not taking into account chain ID
Tendermint is a high-performance blockchain consensus engine for Byzantine fault tolerant applications. Versions prior to 0.28.0 contain a potential attack via Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature, affecting anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes). The light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client. The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks. This issue is patched in version 0.28.0. There are no workarounds.
- Record
CVE-2022-23507- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-347
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-xqqc-c5gw-c5r5
Tendermint light client verification not taking into account chain ID
Impact
Anyone using the tendermint-light-client and related packages to perform light client verification (e.g. IBC-rs, Hermes).
At present, the light client does not check that the chain IDs of the trusted and untrusted headers match, resulting in a possible attack vector where someone who finds a header from an untrusted chain that satisfies all other verification conditions (e.g. enough overlapping validator signatures) could fool a light client.
The attack vector is currently theoretical, and no proof-of-concept exists yet to exploit it on live networks.
Patches
Users of the light client-related crates can currently upgrade to v0.28.0.
Workarounds
None
References
- Record
GHSA-xqqc-c5gw-c5r5- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-347
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
tendermint-light-client-verifiercrates.io |
through 0.27.0 | 0.28.0 |
tendermint-light-clientcrates.io |
through 0.27.0 | 0.28.0 |
tendermint-light-client-jscrates.io |
through 0.27.0 | 0.28.0 |
tendermint-light-client-verifiercrates.io |
before 0.28.0 | 0.28.0 |
tendermint-light-clientcrates.io |
before 0.28.0 | 0.28.0 |
tendermint-light-client-jscrates.io |
before 0.28.0 | 0.28.0 |
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-2022-23507 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.4) in Tendermint-light-client Project Tendermint-light-client, published December 14, 2022. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.32%, the 24th percentile. Fixed in tendermint-light-client-verifier 0.28.0.
References
github.com/informalsystems/tendermint-rs/security/advisories/GHSA-xqqc-c5gw-c5r5
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-23507