Shallow copy bug in geth
Description
Go Ethereum, or "Geth", is the official Golang implementation of the Ethereum protocol. This is a Consensus vulnerability in Geth before version 1.9.17 which can be used to cause a chain-split where vulnerable nodes reject the canonical chain. Geth's pre-compiled dataCopy (at 0x00...04) contract did a shallow copy on invocation. An attacker could deploy a contract that writes X to an EVM memory region R, then calls 0x00..04 with R as an argument, then overwrites R to Y, and finally invokes the RETURNDATACOPY opcode. When this contract is invoked, a consensus-compliant node would push X on the EVM stack, whereas Geth would push Y. This is fixed in version 1.9.17.
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Affected packages
Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.
| Package | Affected versions | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|
github.com/ethereum/go-ethereumGo | >= 1.9.7, < 1.9.17 | 1.9.17 |
Affected products
3- ghsa-coords2 versionspkg:golang/github.com/ethereum/go-ethereumpkg:rpm/opensuse/govulncheck-vulndb&distro=openSUSE%20Tumbleweed
>= 1.9.7, < 1.9.17+ 1 more
- (no CPE)range: >= 1.9.7, < 1.9.17
- (no CPE)range: < 0.0.20250807T150727-1.1
- Range: >= 1.9.7, < 1.9.17
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
6- github.com/advisories/GHSA-69v6-xc2j-r2jfghsaADVISORY
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-26241ghsaADVISORY
- blog.ethereum.org/2020/11/12/geth_security_releaseghsaWEB
- blog.ethereum.org/2020/11/12/geth_security_release/mitrex_refsource_MISC
- github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/commit/295693759e5ded05fec0b2fb39359965b60da785ghsaWEB
- github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/security/advisories/GHSA-69v6-xc2j-r2jfghsax_refsource_CONFIRMWEB
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