CVE-2023-32059
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
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
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.5
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
- Record
CVE-2023-32059- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-683
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0272
7.5
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
- Record
EUVD-2023-0272- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g
8.7
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Impact
Internal calls to internal functions with more than 1 default argument are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments
provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible,
typechecking is bypassed. In the bar() function in the following code, self.foo(13) is compiled to
self.foo(13,12) instead of self.foo(13,1337).
@internal
def foo(a:uint256 = 12, b:uint256 = 1337):
pass
@internal
def bar():
self.foo(13)
note that at the time of publication, the ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that does not seem to be widely used.
Patches
patched in c3e68c302aa6e1429946473769dd1232145822ac
Workarounds
Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?
References
Are there any links users can visit to find out more?
- Record
GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g- CVSS 4.0
- 8.7 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-683
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.5
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
- Record
CVE-2023-32059- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-683
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.5
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
- Record
CVE-2023-32059- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-683
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g
8.7
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Impact
Internal calls to internal functions with more than 1 default argument are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments
provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible,
typechecking is bypassed. In the bar() function in the following code, self.foo(13) is compiled to
self.foo(13,12) instead of self.foo(13,1337).
@internal
def foo(a:uint256 = 12, b:uint256 = 1337):
pass
@internal
def bar():
self.foo(13)
note that at the time of publication, the ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that does not seem to be widely used.
Patches
patched in c3e68c302aa6e1429946473769dd1232145822ac
Workarounds
Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?
References
Are there any links users can visit to find out more?
- Record
GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g- CVSS 4.0
- 8.7 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-683
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2023-79 No score
Vyper is a Pythonic smart contract language for the Ethereum virtual machine. Prior to version 0.3.8, internal calls with default arguments are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible, typechecking is bypassed. The ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that is not well known about. The issue is patched in version 0.3.8.
- Record
PYSEC-2023-79- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
vyperPyPI |
before 0.3.8 | 0.3.8 |
vyperPyPI |
before 0.3.8, plus listed versions 0.1.0b10.1.0b100.1.0b110.1.0b120.1.0b13 Show 36 moreShow less0.1.0b140.1.0b150.1.0b160.1.0b170.1.0b20.1.0b30.1.0b40.1.0b50.1.0b60.1.0b70.1.0b80.1.0b90.2.10.2.100.2.110.2.120.2.130.2.140.2.150.2.160.2.20.2.30.2.40.2.50.2.60.2.70.2.80.2.90.3.00.3.10.3.20.3.30.3.40.3.50.3.60.3.7 |
0.3.8 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-32059 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Vyperlang Vyper, published May 11, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.73%, the 54th percentile. Fixed in vyper 0.3.8.
References
github.com/vyperlang/vyper/security/advisories/GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g
github.com/vyperlang/vyper/commit/c3e68c302aa6e1429946473769dd1232145822ac
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32059
github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/vyper/PYSEC-2023-79.yaml
github.com/advisories/GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/32xxx/CVE-2023-32059.json
github.com/vyperlang/vyper