RUSTSEC-2026-0216

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Source

https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0216

Import Source

https://github.com/rustsec/advisory-db/blob/osv/crates/RUSTSEC-2026-0216.json

JSON Data

https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/RUSTSEC-2026-0216

Published

2026-07-25T12:00:00Z

Modified

2026-07-29T15:30:03.565949994Z

Severity

7.5 (High) CVSS_V3 - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H CVSS Calculator

Summary

Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP‑44 v2 payload

Details

The NIP-44 v2 decryption path in the nostr crate contains a reachable panic when processing a short or empty ciphertext. After the HMAC check passes and the ciphertext is decrypted via ChaCha20, the code reads a 2‑byte unpadded‑length prefix via buffer[0..2] without first verifying that the decrypted buffer contains at least 2 bytes. A malicious sender who holds the symmetric conversation key (e.g., a direct‑message sender) can craft a payload that produces a 0 or 1‑byte decrypted buffer, causing an index‑out‑of‑bounds panic. This can be triggered remotely through any relay that delivers the crafted event to the victim's client, resulting in a denial of service. No key material, plaintext, or memory corruption occurs.

The vulnerability is present in all versions from 0.26.0 up to 0.44.4 (inclusive) and in the alpha releases 0.45.0‑alpha.1 through 0.45.0‑alpha.4. Versions 0.44.5 and 0.45.0‑alpha.5 contain the fix.

Credit

Discovered and responsibly disclosed by Muhammed Shekho (mhd-shekho.com).

Database specific

{
    "license": "CC0-1.0"
}

References

Affected packages

crates.io / nostr

Package

Name: nostr; View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl: pkg:cargo/nostr

Affected ranges

Type: SEMVER
Events: Introduced

0.0.0-0

Fixed

0.44.5

Introduced

0.45.0-alpha.1

Fixed

0.45.0-alpha.5

Ecosystem specific

{
    "affected_functions": null,
    "affects": {
        "arch": [],
        "os": [],
        "functions": [
            "nostr::nips::nip44::decrypt",
            "nostr::nips::nip44::decrypt_to_bytes",
            "nostr::nips::nip44::v2::decrypt_to_bytes"
        ]
    }
}

Database specific

cvss

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

source

"https://github.com/rustsec/advisory-db/blob/osv/crates/RUSTSEC-2026-0216.json"