Skip to content
Fencer Intel
high 7.5

GHSA-hrqp-8w79-gwgw json

Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP‑44 v2 payload

published 3mo ago modified 3mo ago also RUSTSEC-2026-0216

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, OSV
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
—
no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The NIP-44 v2 decryption path in the `nostr` crate contains a reachable panic when processing a short or empty ciphertext. After the HMAC check passes and the ciphertext is decrypted via ChaCha20, the code reads a 2‑byte unpadded‑length prefix via `buffer[0..2]` without first verifying that the decrypted buffer contains at least 2 bytes. A malicious sender who holds the symmetric conversation key (e.g., a direct‑message sender) can craft a payload that produces a 0 or 1‑byte decrypted buffer, causing an index‑out‑of‑bounds panic. This can be triggered remotely through any relay that delivers the crafted event to the victim's client, resulting in a denial of service. No key material, plaintext, or memory corruption occurs.

The vulnerability is present in all versions from `0.26.0` up to `0.44.4` (inclusive) and in the alpha releases `0.45.0‑alpha.1` through `0.45.0‑alpha.4`. Versions `0.44.5` and `0.45.0‑alpha.5` contain the fix.

## Credit

Discovered and responsibly disclosed by **Muhammed Shekho** ([mhd-shekho.com](https://mhd-shekho.com)).

Patch / fix

  • crates.io nostr 0.44.5, 0.45.0-alpha.5

Is GHSA-hrqp-8w79-gwgw in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
OSV 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
crates.io nostr
>=0.0.0-0, <0.44.5
>=0.45.0-alpha.1, <0.45.0-alpha.5
0.44.5
0.45.0-alpha.5

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.