CVE-2018-19183: Ethereumjs vm Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-2mw7-wggm-m6w3
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-119
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2018-19183 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) affecting Ethereumjs vm libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves denial of service in ethereumjs-vm. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2018-19183 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2018-19183
GHSA Identifier GHSA-2mw7-wggm-m6w3
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
Affected Product Ethereumjs vm
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2018-19183

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Ethereumjs vm dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

ethereumjs-vm fixed: Latest secure release 
npm install ethereumjs-vm@Latest secure release
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

npm ls ethereumjs-vm

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2018-19183, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls ethereumjs-vm

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Ethereumjs vm in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls ethereumjs-vm command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer, where the product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. this may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data. In Ethereumjs vm, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

ethereumjs-vm 2.4.0 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (vm.runCode failure and REVERT) via a "code: Buffer.from(my_code, 'hex')" attribute.

CVE-2018-19183 Affected Ethereumjs vm Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
ethereumjs-vm
npm/ethereumjs-vm
npm
≤ 2.4.0

References

NVD — CVE-2018-19183 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19183
Ethereumjs vm Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/ethereumjs/ethereumjs-vm/issues/386
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2mw7-wggm-m6w3
Ethereumjs vm Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/ethereumjs/ethereumjs-vm

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-19183?
CVE-2018-19183 is a security vulnerability in Ethereumjs vm involving Denial of Service in ethereumjs-vm under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer.
Which Ethereumjs vm versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: ethereumjs-vm.
What version fixes CVE-2018-19183?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is ethereumjs-vm affected?
Yes, ethereumjs-vm is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-19183?
CVE-2018-19183 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2018-19183?
CVE-2018-19183 is classified under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2018-19183?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls ethereumjs-vm'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-2mw7-wggm-m6w3",
  "modified" : "2022-09-14T22:05:59Z",
  "published" : "2018-11-21T22:22:46Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2018-19183" ],
  "summary" : "Denial of Service in ethereumjs-vm",
  "details" : "ethereumjs-vm 2.4.0 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (vm.runCode failure and REVERT) via a \"code: Buffer.from(my_code, 'hex')\" attribute.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "ethereumjs-vm"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "2.4.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19183"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ethereumjs/ethereumjs-vm/issues/386"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2mw7-wggm-m6w3"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/ethereumjs/ethereumjs-vm"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-119" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T20:52:41Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}