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GHSA-443g-gwgp-49x4: zebrad vulnerable to getblocks/getheaders locator CPU amplification via uncapped vector length

lowCVSS 3.7
Am I affected You are affected if: 1. You run zebrad up to and including v4.4.1. 2. Your node accepts inbound P2P connections. Summary The read_getblocks and read_getheaders codec paths accepted block locator vectors up to approximately 65,535 entries (the generic TrustedPreallocate ceiling derived from MAX_PROTOCOL_MESSAGE_LEN), rather than the protocol-specification limit of 101 entries (matching zcashd's MAX_LOCATOR_SZ). Each entry in the locator vector triggers a per-hash chain lookup (HashMap::contains_key + RocksDB::contains_hash) in find_chain_intersection on a tokio blocking-pool thread. A single maximally-sized getblocks message occupies one blocking-pool thread for approximately 10–65ms. Under sustained load from multiple peers, this can degrade state-read performance for block validation, RPC, and mempool lookups. Details The read_headers codec path already implements the correct pattern: it reads the CompactSize count, validates against MAX_HEADERS_PER_MESSAGE = 160 before deserialization, and rejects oversized messages. The read_getblocks and read_getheaders paths were missing this pre-deserialization count check and instead relied on the generic block::Hash::max_allocation() bound, which allows (MAX_PROTOCOL_MESSAGE_LEN - 1) / 32 = 65,535 hashes. A legitimate block locator is logarithmic in chain length (approximately 30 hashes for the current ~3M-block Zcash chain). Zebra's own send-side cap is MAX_FIND_BLOCK_HASHES_RESULTS = 500. The practical impact requires significant attacker bandwidth (approximately 2 MiB per request) and multiple Sybil peers to meaningfully degrade the blocking pool, which limits real-world exploitability. Patches Patched in Zebra 4.4.2. The fix caps block::Hash::max_allocation() at MAX_BLOCK_LOCATOR_LENGTH = 101, matching zcashd's MAX_LOCATOR_SZ. This causes the deserializer to reject oversized locators before any allocation or iteration occurs. Workarou

Details

Source
GitHub Security Advisories (INTL · database · site)
Severity
low — CVSS 3.7
Published
2026-07-02
Last updated
2026-07-02
Exploitation
Not in CISA KEV at last sync

Original advisory: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-443g-gwgp-49x4

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