CVE-2023-40591
Denial of service via malicious p2p message in go-ethereum
go-ethereum (geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
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
Denial of service via malicious p2p message in go-ethereum
go-ethereum (geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40591- 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
EUVDEUVD-2023-2566
go-ethereum (geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2023-2566- 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
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-ppjg-v974-84cm
Go-Ethereum vulnerable to denial of service via malicious p2p message
Impact
A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.
Details
The p2p handler spawned a new goroutine to respond to ping requests. By flooding a node with ping requests, an unbounded number of goroutines can be created, leading to resource exhaustion and potentially crash due to OOM.
Patches
The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards.
Fixed by https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/27887
Workarounds
No known workarounds.
Credits
This bug was reported by Patrick McHardy and reported via [email protected].
References
- Record
GHSA-ppjg-v974-84cm- 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
NVD
go-ethereum (geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40591- 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 via malicious p2p message in go-ethereum
go-ethereum (geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40591- 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
OSVGHSA-ppjg-v974-84cm
Go-Ethereum vulnerable to denial of service via malicious p2p message
Impact
A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.
Details
The p2p handler spawned a new goroutine to respond to ping requests. By flooding a node with ping requests, an unbounded number of goroutines can be created, leading to resource exhaustion and potentially crash due to OOM.
Patches
The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards.
Fixed by https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/27887
Workarounds
No known workarounds.
Credits
This bug was reported by Patrick McHardy and reported via [email protected].
References
- Record
GHSA-ppjg-v974-84cm- 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
OSVGO-2023-2046 No score
Unbounded memory consumption in github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum
Unbounded memory consumption in github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum
- Record
GO-2023-2046- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/ethereum/go-ethereumGo |
before 1.12.1-stable | 1.12.1-stable |
github.com/ethereum/go-ethereumGo |
before 1.12.1 | 1.12.1 |
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-2023-40591 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Ethereum Go-ethereum, published September 6, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.12%, the 66th percentile. Fixed in github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum 1.12.1-stable.
References
github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/security/advisories/GHSA-ppjg-v974-84cm
geth.ethereum.org/docs/developers/geth-developer/disclosures
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40591