GHSA-M6WQ-66P2-C8PC
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-12-08 22:20 – Updated: 2025-12-17 01:09Summary
A vulnerability exists in Babylon’s BLS vote extension processing where a malicious active validator can submit a VoteExtension with the block_hash field omitted from the protobuf serialization. Because protobuf fields are optional, unmarshalling succeeds but leaves BlockHash as nil. Babylon then dereferences this nil pointer in consensus-critical code paths (notably VerifyVoteExtension, and also proposal-time vote verification), causing a runtime panic.
Impact
Intermittent validator crashes at epoch boundaries, which would slow down the creation of the epoch boundary block.
Finder
Vulnerability discovered by:
- @GrumpyLaurie55348
{
"affected": [
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon/v4"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "4.2.0"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
},
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon/v3"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "3.0.0-snapshot.250805a"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
},
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon/v2"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "2.3.2"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
},
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.1.0"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
}
],
"aliases": [],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-476"
],
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2025-12-08T22:20:24Z",
"nvd_published_at": null,
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "### Summary\n\nA vulnerability exists in Babylon\u2019s BLS vote extension processing where a malicious active validator can submit a VoteExtension with the `block_hash` field omitted from the protobuf serialization. Because protobuf fields are optional, unmarshalling succeeds but leaves `BlockHash` as nil. Babylon then dereferences this nil pointer in consensus-critical code paths (notably `VerifyVoteExtension`, and also proposal-time vote verification), causing a runtime panic.\n\n### Impact\n\nIntermittent validator crashes at epoch boundaries, which would slow down the creation of the epoch boundary block.\n\n### Finder \n\nVulnerability discovered by:\n\n- @GrumpyLaurie55348",
"id": "GHSA-m6wq-66p2-c8pc",
"modified": "2025-12-17T01:09:11Z",
"published": "2025-12-08T22:20:24Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon/security/advisories/GHSA-m6wq-66p2-c8pc"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon/commit/f79ad58c1d5bcab3451cb7a47c91e713935917d7"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://github.com/babylonlabs-io/babylon"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
"type": "CVSS_V4"
}
],
"summary": "Babylon Nil BlockHash in BLS vote extensions triggers panics in consensus handlers"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
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- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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