CVE-2024-45040: gnark-crypto Information Disclosure

Description

gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Prior to version 0.11.0, commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break the zero-knowledge property. The vulnerability affects only Groth16 proofs with commitments. Notably, PLONK proofs are not affected. The vulnerability affects the zero-knowledge property of the proofs - in case the witness (secret or internal) values are small, then the attacker may be able to enumerate all possible choices to deduce the actual value. If the possible choices for the variables to be committed is large or there are many values committed, then it would be computationally infeasible to enumerate all valid choices. It doesn't affect the completeness/soundness of the proofs. The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.11.0. The patch to fix the issue is to add additional randomized value to the list of committed value at proving time to mask the rest of the values which were committed. As a workaround, the user can manually commit to a randomized value.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.9

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-200 CWE-200

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
consensys	gnark-crypto	< 0.11.0

References

Advisories & Patches

https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/commit/afda68a38acca37becb8ba6d8982d03fee9559a0

Other References

https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/pull/1245 https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/security/advisories/GHSA-9xcg-3q8v-7fq6

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-45040? +

gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Prior to version 0.11.0, commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break the zero-knowledge property. The vulnerability affects only Groth16 proofs with commitments. Notably, PLONK proofs are not affected. The vulnerability affects the zero-knowledge property of the proofs - in case the witness (secret or internal) values are small, then the attacker may be able to enumerate all possible choices to deduce the actual value. If the possible choices for the variables to be committed is large or there are many values committed, then it would be computationally infeasible to enumerate all valid choices. It doesn't affect the completeness/soundness of the proofs. The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.11.0. The patch to fix the issue is to add additional randomized value to the list of committed value at proving time to mask the rest of the values which were committed. As a workaround, the user can manually commit to a randomized value. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.9 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2024-45040? +

CVE-2024-45040 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

What products are affected by CVE-2024-45040? +

CVE-2024-45040 affects products from consensys, specifically: gnark-crypto. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2024-45040? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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