CVE-2024-45040 [Medium] | Information Disclosure in Gnark-Crypto

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.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-01-26	0.12%	0.16%	+0.04%
2	2025-11-21	0.23%	0.12%	-0.11%
3	2025-11-18	—	0.23%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-01-26

0.12%

0.16%

+0.04%

2025-11-21

0.23%

0.12%

-0.11%

2025-11-18

—

0.23%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.9	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.2	3.6	[email protected]
5.9	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.2	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.9

3.1

MEDIUM

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

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.2

3.6

[email protected]

5.9

3.1

MEDIUM

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

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.2

3.6

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-45040

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
consensys	gnark-crypto	< 0.11.0	cpe:2.3:a:consensys:gnark-crypto::::::::

References for CVE-2024-45040

URL	Tags
https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/commit/afda68a38acca37becb8ba6d8982d03fee9559a0	Patch
https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/pull/1245	Product
https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/security/advisories/GHSA-9xcg-3q8v-7fq6	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2024-45040 | gnark's commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break zero-knowledge property

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-45040

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-45040

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-45040

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-45040

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-45040

References for CVE-2024-45040