GHSA-xc79-566c-j4qx
Parallax is vulnerable to DoS via malicious p2p message
Impact
A vulnerable node can be made to consume very large amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.
In order to carry out the attack, the attacker establishes a peer connections to the victim, and sends a malicious GetBlockHeadersRequest message with a count of 0, using the Parallax protocol.
In descendants := chain.GetHeadersFrom(num+count-1, count-1), the value of count-1 is passed to the function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64) as parameter count. Due to integer overflow, UINT64_MAX value is then passed as the count argument to function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64). This allows an attacker to bypass maxHeadersServe and request all headers from the latest block back to the genesis block.
Patches
The fix has been included in the Parallax client version 0.1.4 and onwards.
The vulnerability was patched in: https://github.com/microstack-tech/parallax/commit/f759e9090aaf00a43c616d7cbd133c44bb1ed01e
Workarounds
No workarounds have been made public.
Credit
This issue was disclosed responsibly by DongHan Kim via the Ethereum bug bounty program, the cooperation is appreciated.
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
What each source reports
GitHub Advisories Score used
Parallax is vulnerable to DoS via malicious p2p message
Impact
A vulnerable node can be made to consume very large amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.
In order to carry out the attack, the attacker establishes a peer connections to the victim, and sends a malicious GetBlockHeadersRequest message with a count of 0, using the Parallax protocol.
In descendants := chain.GetHeadersFrom(num+count-1, count-1), the value of count-1 is passed to the function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64) as parameter count. Due to integer overflow, UINT64_MAX value is then passed as the count argument to function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64). This allows an attacker to bypass maxHeadersServe and request all headers from the latest block back to the genesis block.
Patches
The fix has been included in the Parallax client version 0.1.4 and onwards.
The vulnerability was patched in: https://github.com/microstack-tech/parallax/commit/f759e9090aaf00a43c616d7cbd133c44bb1ed01e
Workarounds
No workarounds have been made public.
Credit
This issue was disclosed responsibly by DongHan Kim via the Ethereum bug bounty program, the cooperation is appreciated.
- Record
GHSA-xc79-566c-j4qx- 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
Parallax is vulnerable to DoS via malicious p2p message
Impact
A vulnerable node can be made to consume very large amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.
In order to carry out the attack, the attacker establishes a peer connections to the victim, and sends a malicious GetBlockHeadersRequest message with a count of 0, using the Parallax protocol.
In descendants := chain.GetHeadersFrom(num+count-1, count-1), the value of count-1 is passed to the function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64) as parameter count. Due to integer overflow, UINT64_MAX value is then passed as the count argument to function GetHeadersFrom(number, count uint64). This allows an attacker to bypass maxHeadersServe and request all headers from the latest block back to the genesis block.
Patches
The fix has been included in the Parallax client version 0.1.4 and onwards.
The vulnerability was patched in: https://github.com/microstack-tech/parallax/commit/f759e9090aaf00a43c616d7cbd133c44bb1ed01e
Workarounds
No workarounds have been made public.
Credit
This issue was disclosed responsibly by DongHan Kim via the Ethereum bug bounty program, the cooperation is appreciated.
- Record
GHSA-xc79-566c-j4qx- 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-2025-4019No score
Parallax is vulnerable to DoS via malicious p2p message in github.com/microstack-tech/parallax
Parallax is vulnerable to DoS via malicious p2p message in github.com/microstack-tech/parallax
- Record
GO-2025-4019- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/microstack-tech/parallaxGo | before 0.1.4 | 0.1.4 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | GitHub Advisories, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
GHSA-xc79-566c-j4qx is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in github.com/microstack-tech/parallax, published October 10, 2025. No source lists public exploit code. Fixed in github.com/microstack-tech/parallax 0.1.4.
References
github.com/microstack-tech/parallax/security/advisories/GHSA-xc79-566c-j4qx
pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2025-4019