CVE-2026-54542 PUBLISHED

Nimiq: Out-of-bounds panic in KeyNibbles::Add from oversized child suffix in a deserialized proof

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 15.06.2026 Published: 14.09.2026 Updated: 14.09.2026

Nimiq is a Rust implementation of the Nimiq Proof-of-Stake protocol based on the Albatross consensus algorithm. Prior to 1.6.0, a malicious state-sync peer can crash a syncing node by sending a crafted TrieChunk whose proof contains a TrieNodeChild suffix that is individually valid but exceeds the 63-byte KeyNibbles backing array when combined with the parent key. KeyNibbles::Add in primitives/src/key_nibbles.rs performs the combined slice operation without checking the total length, and the input reaches put_chunk, TrieNodeChild::key, and TrieNodeChild::is_stump before proof.verify, so the attacker does not need a valid cryptographic proof. Exploitation requires the attacker to be selected as the victim's sync peer during state sync. The resulting out-of-bounds panic is transient because the node restarts and resynchronizes. This issue is fixed in version 1.6.0.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CVSS Score: 3.7

Product Status

Vendor nimiq
Product core-rs-albatross
Versions
  • Version < 1.6.0 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read CWE