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Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

CVE-2023-42806

Medium
6.5/10

Summary

Hydra is the layer-two scalability solution for Cardano. Prior to version 0.13.0, not signing and verifying `$\mathsf{cid}$` allows an attacker (which must be a participant of this head) to use a snapshot from an old head instance with the same participants to close the head or contest the state with it. This can lead to an incorrect distribution of value (= value extraction attack; hard, but possible) or prevent the head to finalize because the value available is not consistent with the closed utxo state (= denial of service; easy). A patch is planned for version 0.13.0. As a workaround, rotate keys between heads so not to re-use keys and not result in the same multi-signature participants.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • HIGH
  • NONE
  • HIGH

CWE-347 - Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

A cryptographic protocol is meant to ensure that services are provided in a secure manner. An application with absent or improper verification of cryptographic signatures allows malicious users to feed false messages to valid users or to disclose sensitive data, subverting the goals of the protocol. This can lead to security failures such as false authentication, account hijacking, and privilege escalation.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published