Go Ethereum
CVE-2018-20421
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Go Ethereum (aka geth) 1.8.19 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by rewriting the length of a dynamic array in memory, and then writing data to a single memory. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. Go Ethereum (aka geth) 1.8.19 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by rewriting the length of a dynamic array in memory, and then writing data to a single memory location with a large index number, as demonstrated by use of "assembly { mstore }" followed by a "c[0xC800000] = 0xFF" assignment. Affected products include: Ethereum Go Ethereum.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Go Ethereum (aka geth) 1.8.19 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by rewriting the length of a dynamic array in memory, and then writing data to a single memory location with a large index number, as demonstrated by use of "assembly { mstore }" followed by a "c[0xC800000] = 0xFF" assignment.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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