SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityDeferred

CVE-2025-24371

This condition requires the introduction of malicious code in the full node first reporting some non-existing `latest` height, then reporting lower `latest` height and nodes which are syncing using `blocksync` protocol.

HIGH 7.1EPSS 0.46%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.46%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

CometBFT is a distributed, Byzantine fault-tolerant, deterministic state machine replication engine. In the `blocksync` protocol peers send their `base` and `latest` heights when they connect to a new node (`A`), which is syncing to the tip of a network. `base` acts as a lower ground and informs `A` that the peer only has blocks starting from height `base`. `latest` height informs `A` about the latest block in a network. Normally, nodes would only report increasing heights. If `B` fails to provide the latest block, `B` is removed and the `latest` height (target height) is recalculated based on other nodes `latest` heights. The existing code however doesn't check for the case where `B` first reports `latest` height `X` and immediately after height `Y`, where `X > Y`. `A` will be trying to catch up to 2000 indefinitely. This condition requires the introduction of malicious code in the full node first reporting some non-existing `latest` height, then reporting lower `latest` height and nodes which are syncing using `blocksync` protocol. This issue has been patched in versions 1.0.1 and 0.38.17 and all users are advised to upgrade. Operators may attempt to ban malicious peers from the network as a workaround.

CVSS 4.0
7.1 HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
EPSS
0.46% probability · 39th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-703
Source
security-advisories@github.com

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.