CVE-2020-5232
Ethereum Name Service - Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a trapdoor, allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owners consent or awareness. A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Ethereum Name Service - Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a trapdoor, allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owners consent or awareness. A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry.
- Record
CVE-2020-5232- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-285
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0255
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a trapdoor, allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owners consent or awareness. A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0255- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h
Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names
Impact
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a "trapdoor", allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owner's consent or awareness.
Patches
A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry. The registry is newly deployed at 0x00000000000C2E074eC69A0dFb2997BA6C7d2e1e.
Workarounds
Do not accept transfers of ENS domains from other users on the old registrar.
- Record
GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-285
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a trapdoor, allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owners consent or awareness. A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry.
- Record
CVE-2020-5232- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 4.9 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-285
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a trapdoor, allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owners consent or awareness. A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry.
- Record
CVE-2020-5232- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h
Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names
Impact
A user who owns an ENS domain can set a "trapdoor", allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owner's consent or awareness.
Patches
A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry. The registry is newly deployed at 0x00000000000C2E074eC69A0dFb2997BA6C7d2e1e.
Workarounds
Do not accept transfers of ENS domains from other users on the old registrar.
- Record
GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h- CVSS 3.1
- 8.7 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-285
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
@ensdomains/ensnpm |
before 0.4.0 | 0.4.0 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-5232 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.7) in Ens.domains Ethereum Name Service, published January 30, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.18%, the 67th percentile. Fixed in @ensdomains/ens 0.4.0.