Affected: vyperlang vyper

Vyper is the Pythonic Programming Language for the Ethereum Virtual Machine. In versions up to and including 0.4.2rc1, the `slice()` builtin can elide side effects when the output length is 0, and the source bytestring is a builtin (`msg.data` or `<address>.code`). The reason is that for these source locations, the check that `length >= 1` is skipped. The result is that a 0-length bytestring constructed with slice can be passed to `make_byte_array_copier`, which elides evaluation of its source argument when the max length is 0. The impact is that side effects in the `start` argument may be elided when the `length` argument is 0, e.g. `slice(msg.data, self.do_side_effect(), 0)`. The fix in pull request 4645 disallows any invocation of `slice()` with length 0, including for the ad hoc locations discussed in this advisory. The fix is expected to be part of version 0.4.2.

Affected: PyPI: vyper

### Impact the `slice()` builtin can elide side effects when the output length is 0, and the source bytestring is a builtin (`msg.data` or `<address>.code`). the reason is that for these source locations, the check that `length >= 1` is skipped: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/68b68c4b30c5ef2f312b4674676170b8a6eaa316/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L315-L319

the result is that a 0-length bytestring constructed with slice can be passed to `make_byte_array_copier`, which elides evaluation of its source argument when the max length is 0: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/68b68c4b30c5ef2f312b4674676170b8a6eaa316/vyper/codegen/core.py#L189-L191

the impact is that side effects in the `start` argument may be elided when the `length` argument is 0, e.g. `slice(msg.data, self.do_side_effect(), 0)`.

the following example illustrates how the issue would look in user code ```vyper counter: public(uint256)

@external def test() -> Bytes[10]: b: Bytes[10] = slice(msg.data, self.side_effect(), 0) return b

def side_effect() -> uint256: self.counter += 1 return 0 ```

the severity assigned is low, since this is not a very useful pattern and unlikely to be found in user code.

### Patches

the fix is tracked in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/4645, which disallows any invocation of `slice()` with length 0, including for the ad hoc locations discussed in this advisory.

### Workarounds _Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without…