CVE-2023-23625
Denial of service in HAMT Decoding in go-unixfs
go-unixfs is an implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic. This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.4.3 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Denial of service in HAMT Decoding in go-unixfs
go-unixfs is an implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic. This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.4.3 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
- Record
CVE-2023-23625- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0769
go-unixfs is an implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic. This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.4.3 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
- Record
EUVD-2023-0769- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-q264-w97q-q778
Denial of service via HAMT Decoding Panics
Impact
Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic.
This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes.
This include checks returned in ipfs/go-bitfield GHSA-2h6c-j3gf-xp9r, as well as limiting the fanout to <= 1024 (to avoid attempts of arbitrary sized allocations).
Patches
Workarounds
Do not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
References
- Record
GHSA-q264-w97q-q778- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
go-unixfs is an implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic. This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.4.3 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
- Record
CVE-2023-23625- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - 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-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Denial of service in HAMT Decoding in go-unixfs
go-unixfs is an implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic. This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. Users are advised to upgrade to version 0.4.3 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
- Record
CVE-2023-23625- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-q264-w97q-q778
Denial of service via HAMT Decoding Panics
Impact
Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic.
This is caused by bogus fanout parameter in the HAMT directory nodes.
This include checks returned in ipfs/go-bitfield GHSA-2h6c-j3gf-xp9r, as well as limiting the fanout to <= 1024 (to avoid attempts of arbitrary sized allocations).
Patches
Workarounds
Do not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
References
- Record
GHSA-q264-w97q-q778- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1557 No score
Denial of service via HAMT decoding panic in github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs
Trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories can cause panics and virtual memory leaks. If you are reading untrusted user input, an attacker can then trigger a panic.
This is caused by bogus "fanout" parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. A workaround is to not feed untrusted user data to the decoding functions.
- Record
GO-2023-1557- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/ipfs/go-unixfsGo |
before 0.4.3 | 0.4.3 |
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-2023-23625 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.9) in Ipfs Go-unixfs, published February 9, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.68%, the 52nd percentile. Fixed in github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs 0.4.3.
References
github.com/ipfs/go-unixfs/security/advisories/GHSA-q264-w97q-q778
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23625
pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2023-1557