Skip to main content

Ethereum CVE-2021-43668

MEDIUM
NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476)
2021-11-18 cve@mitre.org
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
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 5.5 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local attacker with access to the system could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAI

Go-Ethereum 1.10.9 nodes crash (denial of service) after receiving a serial of messages and cannot be recovered. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.

Affected Packages

go github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in go

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. Go-Ethereum 1.10.9 nodes crash (denial of service) after receiving a serial of messages and cannot be recovered. They will crash with "runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference" and arise a SEGV signal. Affected products include: Ethereum Go Ethereum.

Know when Ethereum gets its next vulnerability

  • Watch products and get an email when something new is published
  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

No credit card · 7-day full trial

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

Go-Ethereum 1.10.9 nodes crash (denial of service) after receiving a serial of messages and cannot be recovered. They will crash with "runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference" and arise a SEGV signal.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 84% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

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.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:ethereum:go_ethereum:1.10.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2018-18920 HIGH POC
8.8 Nov 12

Py-EVM v0.2.0-alpha.33 allows attackers to make a vm.execute_bytecode call that triggers computation._stack.values with

CVE-2022-23328 HIGH POC
7.5 Mar 04

A design flaw in all versions of Go-Ethereum allows an attacker node to send 5120 pending transactions of a high gas pri

CVE-2022-23327 HIGH POC
7.5 Mar 04

A design flaw in Go-Ethereum 1.10.12 and older versions allows an attacker node to send 5120 future transactions with a

CVE-2023-42319 HIGH POC
7.5 Oct 18

Geth (aka go-ethereum) through 1.13.4, when --http --graphql is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of servi

CVE-2022-1930 HIGH POC
7.5 Aug 22

An exponential ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) can be triggered in the eth-account PyPI package, when an at

CVE-2018-20421 HIGH POC
7.5 Dec 24

Go Ethereum (aka geth) 1.8.19 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by rewriting the length

CVE-2018-19184 HIGH POC
7.5 Nov 12

cmd/evm/runner.go in Go Ethereum (aka geth) 1.8.17 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (SEGV) via crafted byte

CVE-2018-12018 HIGH POC
7.5 Jul 05

The GetBlockHeadersMsg handler in the LES protocol implementation in Go Ethereum (aka geth) before 1.8.11 may lead to an

CVE-2022-37450 MEDIUM POC
5.9 Aug 05

Go Ethereum (aka geth) through 1.10.21 allows attackers to increase rewards by mining blocks in certain situations, and

CVE-2026-48100 HIGH
8.7 Sep 28

Circuit soundness failure in Payy (polybase/payy) prior to 1.3.0 lets an authorized rollup prover smuggle an extra burn

CVE-2026-26314 HIGH
7.5 Feb 19

Geth versions prior to 1.16.9 can be remotely crashed by sending a specially crafted message over the network, allowing

CVE-2026-22868 HIGH
7.5 Jan 13

Go Ethereum (geth) nodes can be remotely crashed through maliciously crafted network messages, causing denial of service

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy