Vyper sha3 codegen bug

Description

Summary

There is an error in the stack management when compiling the IR for sha3_64. Concretely, the height variable is miscalculated.
The vulnerability can't be triggered without writing the IR by hand. That is, it cannot be triggered from regular vyper code, it can only be triggered by using the fang binary directly (this binary used to be called vyper-ir prior to v0.3.4).

Details

To compile sha3_64, the arg[0] and arg[1] have to be compiled:
https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/c150fc49ee9375a930d177044559b83cb95f7963/vyper/ir/compile_ir.py#L585-L586

As can be seen, after compiling the 0th arg, the height variable isn't increased. If new withargs are defined in the inner scope, they are manipulated correctly, because both their height is off and also the global height is off and thus their placement on the stack is computed correctly.

sha3_64 is used for retrieval in mappings. No flow that would cache the key was found, the issue shouldn't be possible to trigger when compiling the compiler-generated IR.

PoC

Suppose the following hand-written IR:

(with _loc
    (with val 1 
        (with key 2 
            (sha3_64 val key))) 
                (seq 
                    (sstore _loc 
                    (with x (sload _loc) 
                        (with ans (add x 1) (seq (assert (ge ans x)) ans))))))

after compilation:

the generated bytecode: 6001600281806020525f5260405f2090509050805460018101818110610026579050815550005b5f80fd

0000    60  PUSH1 0x01
0002    60  PUSH1 0x02
0004    81  DUP2
0005    80  DUP1       *********** bad code here!!!!!!
0006    60  PUSH1 0x20
0008    52  MSTORE

It can be seen that the second DUP will dup the item on the top of the stack which is incorrect.

Patches

Patched in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/4063.

Impact

Versions v0.2.0-v0.3.10 were evaluated, and access of the variable with the invalid height is not reachable from IR generated by the vyper front-end. Because the issue isn't triggered during normal compilation of vyper code, the impact is considered low.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
low
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2024-02-05 19:21:52 UTC
Updated
2024-11-22 20:45:29 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2024-02-05 19:21:52 UTC
NVD published
2024-02-05

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.19% 40.51%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
3.7 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-327 Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm

Credits

  • cyberthirst (coordinator)
  • kuroi8 (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip vyper < 0.4.0 0.4.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence