Headline
GHSA-cph5-3pgr-c82g: Gnark out-of-memory during deserialization with crafted inputs
Thanks @pventuzelo for reporting.
From the correspondence:
Hi,
We (Fuzzinglabs & Lambdaclass) found that during deserialization of certain files representing a
VerifyingKey
, an excessive memory allocation is happening consuming a lot of resources and even triggering a crash with the errorfatal error: runtime: out of memory
.Please find the details below:
Vulnerability Details
- Severity: Critical -> DoS
- Affected Component: Deserialization
Environment
Compiler Version: go version go1.22.2 linux/amd64
Distro Version: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Additional Environment Details:
[github.com/consensys/gnark](http://github.com/consensys/gnark) v0.11.0
[github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto](http://github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto) v0.14.1-0.20240909142611-e6b99e74cec1
Steps to Reproduce
You can download the needed files here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KQ5I3vv4bUllvqbatGappwbAkIcR2NI_?usp=sharing
You have to run
go run gnark_poc.go
in a terminal.
Running the provided code will result in a memory crash or an extremely large memory allocation, which can be observed using the following command:
go tool pprof -web mem.pprof
Root Cause Analysis
The provided code loads a
VerifyingKey
fromold.vk
by calling theReadFrom
function. This function is implemented in backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go within the gnark library.The provided example uses the elliptic curve BN-254, so the code resides in the backend/groth16/bn254/ repertory. However, the same error exists in other repertories, such as backend/groth16/bls12-377/.
At line 207, a slice is allocated with a length of
nbCommitments
. This variable is directly extracted from the deserialized file, which, in our case, has a value of2,327,186,600
. This large value may be too big for some configurations, leading to memory allocations of approximately ±1 TB, as observed withpprof
.Detailed Behavior
go run gnark_poc.go
fatal error: runtime: out of memory runtime stack: runtime.throw({0x5fe946?, 0x2052ae?}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/panic.go:1023 +0x5c fp=0x7ffd65b321a0 sp=0x7ffd65b32170 pc=0x438a9c runtime.sysMapOS(0xc000400000, 0x8ab6400000) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mem_linux.go:167 +0x11b fp=0x7ffd65b321e0 sp=0x7ffd65b321a0 pc=0x418bbb runtime.sysMap(0xc000400000, 0x8ab6400000, 0x7b19c8?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mem.go:155 +0x34 fp=0x7ffd65b32200 sp=0x7ffd65b321e0 pc=0x418634 runtime.(*mheap).grow(0x7a17c0, 0x455b066?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:1534 +0x236 fp=0x7ffd65b32270 sp=0x7ffd65b32200 pc=0x42b176 runtime.(*mheap).allocSpan(0x7a17c0, 0x455b066, 0x0, 0x1) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:1246 +0x1b0 fp=0x7ffd65b32310 sp=0x7ffd65b32270 pc=0x42a850 runtime.(*mheap).alloc.func1() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:964 +0x5c fp=0x7ffd65b32358 sp=0x7ffd65b32310 pc=0x42a2fc runtime.systemstack(0x46d79f) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:509 +0x4a fp=0x7ffd65b32368 sp=0x7ffd65b32358 pc=0x46912a goroutine 1 gp=0xc0000061c0 m=0 mp=0x798ca0 [running]: runtime.systemstack_switch() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:474 +0x8 fp=0xc000031b68 sp=0xc000031b58 pc=0x4690c8 runtime.(*mheap).alloc(0x5bc040?, 0xc00012bb08?, 0xa0?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:958 +0x5b fp=0xc000031bb0 sp=0xc000031b68 pc=0x42a25b runtime.(*mcache).allocLarge(0xc000126510?, 0x8ab60ca800, 0x1) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mcache.go:234 +0x87 fp=0xc000031c00 sp=0xc000031bb0 pc=0x4176e7 runtime.mallocgc(0x8ab60ca800, 0x5d92a0, 0x1) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/malloc.go:1165 +0x597 fp=0xc000031c88 sp=0xc000031c00 pc=0x40ef97 runtime.makeslice(0xc00011c180?, 0x0?, 0x2?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/slice.go:107 +0x49 fp=0xc000031cb0 sp=0xc000031c88 pc=0x4500c9 [github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).readFrom(0xc0001b7088](http://github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).readFrom(0xc0001b7088), {0x6598a0, 0xc00011dc50}, 0x0) /home/raunan/go/pkg/mod/[github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:214](http://github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:214) +0x765 fp=0xc000031ea8 sp=0xc000031cb0 pc=0x59b205 [github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).ReadFrom(0x100469020](http://github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).ReadFrom(0x100469020)?, {0x6598a0?, 0xc00011dc50?}) /home/raunan/go/pkg/mod/[github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:166](http://github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:166) +0x1f fp=0xc000031ed8 sp=0xc000031ea8 pc=0x59aa5f main.main() /home/raunan/gnark_poc/gnark_poc/gnark_poc.go:19 +0xba fp=0xc000031f50 sp=0xc000031ed8 pc=0x5addda runtime.main() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:271 +0x29d fp=0xc000031fe0 sp=0xc000031f50 pc=0x43b55d runtime.goexit({}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000031fe8 sp=0xc000031fe0 pc=0x46b0e1 goroutine 2 gp=0xc000006c40 m=nil [force gc (idle)]: runtime.gopark(0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000074fa8 sp=0xc000074f88 pc=0x43b98e runtime.goparkunlock(...) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408 runtime.forcegchelper() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:326 +0xb3 fp=0xc000074fe0 sp=0xc000074fa8 pc=0x43b813 runtime.goexit({}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000074fe8 sp=0xc000074fe0 pc=0x46b0e1 created by runtime.init.6 in goroutine 1 /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:314 +0x1a goroutine 3 gp=0xc000007180 m=nil [GC sweep wait]: runtime.gopark(0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000075780 sp=0xc000075760 pc=0x43b98e runtime.goparkunlock(...) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408 runtime.bgsweep(0xc0000240e0) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcsweep.go:278 +0x94 fp=0xc0000757c8 sp=0xc000075780 pc=0x426cf4 runtime.gcenable.gowrap1() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:203 +0x25 fp=0xc0000757e0 sp=0xc0000757c8 pc=0x41b845 runtime.goexit({}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc0000757e8 sp=0xc0000757e0 pc=0x46b0e1 created by runtime.gcenable in goroutine 1 /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:203 +0x66 goroutine 4 gp=0xc000007340 m=nil [GC scavenge wait]: runtime.gopark(0xc0000240e0?, 0x657100?, 0x1?, 0x0?, 0xc000007340?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000075f78 sp=0xc000075f58 pc=0x43b98e runtime.goparkunlock(...) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408 runtime.(*scavengerState).park(0x797520) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcscavenge.go:425 +0x49 fp=0xc000075fa8 sp=0xc000075f78 pc=0x4246e9 runtime.bgscavenge(0xc0000240e0) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcscavenge.go:653 +0x3c fp=0xc000075fc8 sp=0xc000075fa8 pc=0x424c7c runtime.gcenable.gowrap2() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:204 +0x25 fp=0xc000075fe0 sp=0xc000075fc8 pc=0x41b7e5 runtime.goexit({}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000075fe8 sp=0xc000075fe0 pc=0x46b0e1 created by runtime.gcenable in goroutine 1 /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:204 +0xa5 goroutine 18 gp=0xc000102700 m=nil [finalizer wait]: runtime.gopark(0xc000074648?, 0x40f445?, 0xa8?, 0x1?, 0xc0000061c0?) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000074620 sp=0xc000074600 pc=0x43b98e runtime.runfinq() /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mfinal.go:194 +0x107 fp=0xc0000747e0 sp=0xc000074620 pc=0x41a887 runtime.goexit({}) /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc0000747e8 sp=0xc0000747e0 pc=0x46b0e1 created by runtime.createfing in goroutine 1 /usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mfinal.go:164 +0x3d exit status 2
Appendices
This problem can also happen with
ProvingKey
.
Impact
Prover and verifier denial of service in case of maliciously crafted inputs (public key, verification key).
Patches
The issue is patched in https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/pull/1307. It was merged to gnark master at https://github.com/Consensys/gnark/commit/47ae846339add2bdf9983e499342bfdfe195191d. The fix will be incorporated in the next minor release of gnark (v0.11.1).
Workarounds
There are no convenient work-arounds currently. The best approach currently is to run key verification as a separate service which halts the verification pipeline in case of OOM when verification keys come from untrusted sources.
Hi,
We (Fuzzinglabs & Lambdaclass) found that during deserialization of certain files representing a VerifyingKey, an excessive memory allocation is happening consuming a lot of resources and even triggering a crash with the error fatal error: runtime: out of memory.
Please find the details below:
Vulnerability Details
- Severity: Critical -> DoS
- Affected Component: Deserialization
Environment
Compiler Version: go version go1.22.2 linux/amd64
Distro Version: Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS
Additional Environment Details:
- github.com/consensys/gnark v0.11.0
- github.com/consensys/gnark-crypto v0.14.1-0.20240909142611-e6b99e74cec1
Steps to Reproduce
You can download the needed files here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KQ5I3vv4bUllvqbatGappwbAkIcR2NI_?usp=sharing
You have to run
in a terminal.
Running the provided code will result in a memory crash or an extremely large memory allocation, which can be observed using the following command:
go tool pprof -web mem.pprof
Root Cause Analysis
The provided code loads a VerifyingKey from old.vk by calling the ReadFrom function. This function is implemented in backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go within the gnark library.
The provided example uses the elliptic curve BN-254, so the code resides in the backend/groth16/bn254/ repertory. However, the same error exists in other repertories, such as backend/groth16/bls12-377/.
At line 207, a slice is allocated with a length of nbCommitments. This variable is directly extracted from the deserialized file, which, in our case, has a value of 2,327,186,600. This large value may be too big for some configurations, leading to memory allocations of approximately ±1 TB, as observed with pprof.
Detailed Behavior
fatal error: runtime: out of memory
runtime stack:
runtime.throw({0x5fe946?, 0x2052ae?})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/panic.go:1023 +0x5c fp=0x7ffd65b321a0 sp=0x7ffd65b32170 pc=0x438a9c
runtime.sysMapOS(0xc000400000, 0x8ab6400000)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mem_linux.go:167 +0x11b fp=0x7ffd65b321e0 sp=0x7ffd65b321a0 pc=0x418bbb
runtime.sysMap(0xc000400000, 0x8ab6400000, 0x7b19c8?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mem.go:155 +0x34 fp=0x7ffd65b32200 sp=0x7ffd65b321e0 pc=0x418634
runtime.(*mheap).grow(0x7a17c0, 0x455b066?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:1534 +0x236 fp=0x7ffd65b32270 sp=0x7ffd65b32200 pc=0x42b176
runtime.(*mheap).allocSpan(0x7a17c0, 0x455b066, 0x0, 0x1)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:1246 +0x1b0 fp=0x7ffd65b32310 sp=0x7ffd65b32270 pc=0x42a850
runtime.(*mheap).alloc.func1()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:964 +0x5c fp=0x7ffd65b32358 sp=0x7ffd65b32310 pc=0x42a2fc
runtime.systemstack(0x46d79f)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:509 +0x4a fp=0x7ffd65b32368 sp=0x7ffd65b32358 pc=0x46912a
goroutine 1 gp=0xc0000061c0 m=0 mp=0x798ca0 [running]:
runtime.systemstack_switch()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:474 +0x8 fp=0xc000031b68 sp=0xc000031b58 pc=0x4690c8
runtime.(*mheap).alloc(0x5bc040?, 0xc00012bb08?, 0xa0?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mheap.go:958 +0x5b fp=0xc000031bb0 sp=0xc000031b68 pc=0x42a25b
runtime.(*mcache).allocLarge(0xc000126510?, 0x8ab60ca800, 0x1)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mcache.go:234 +0x87 fp=0xc000031c00 sp=0xc000031bb0 pc=0x4176e7
runtime.mallocgc(0x8ab60ca800, 0x5d92a0, 0x1)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/malloc.go:1165 +0x597 fp=0xc000031c88 sp=0xc000031c00 pc=0x40ef97
runtime.makeslice(0xc00011c180?, 0x0?, 0x2?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/slice.go:107 +0x49 fp=0xc000031cb0 sp=0xc000031c88 pc=0x4500c9
[github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).readFrom(0xc0001b7088](http://github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).readFrom(0xc0001b7088), {0x6598a0, 0xc00011dc50}, 0x0)
/home/raunan/go/pkg/mod/[github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:214](http://github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:214) +0x765 fp=0xc000031ea8 sp=0xc000031cb0 pc=0x59b205
[github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).ReadFrom(0x100469020](http://github.com/consensys/gnark/backend/groth16/bn254.(*VerifyingKey).ReadFrom(0x100469020)?, {0x6598a0?, 0xc00011dc50?})
/home/raunan/go/pkg/mod/[github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:166](http://github.com/!ronan!thoraval/[email protected]/backend/groth16/bn254/marshal.go:166) +0x1f fp=0xc000031ed8 sp=0xc000031ea8 pc=0x59aa5f
main.main()
/home/raunan/gnark_poc/gnark_poc/gnark_poc.go:19 +0xba fp=0xc000031f50 sp=0xc000031ed8 pc=0x5addda
runtime.main()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:271 +0x29d fp=0xc000031fe0 sp=0xc000031f50 pc=0x43b55d
runtime.goexit({})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000031fe8 sp=0xc000031fe0 pc=0x46b0e1
goroutine 2 gp=0xc000006c40 m=nil [force gc (idle)]:
runtime.gopark(0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000074fa8 sp=0xc000074f88 pc=0x43b98e
runtime.goparkunlock(...)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408
runtime.forcegchelper()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:326 +0xb3 fp=0xc000074fe0 sp=0xc000074fa8 pc=0x43b813
runtime.goexit({})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000074fe8 sp=0xc000074fe0 pc=0x46b0e1
created by runtime.init.6 in goroutine 1
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:314 +0x1a
goroutine 3 gp=0xc000007180 m=nil [GC sweep wait]:
runtime.gopark(0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?, 0x0?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000075780 sp=0xc000075760 pc=0x43b98e
runtime.goparkunlock(...)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408
runtime.bgsweep(0xc0000240e0)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcsweep.go:278 +0x94 fp=0xc0000757c8 sp=0xc000075780 pc=0x426cf4
runtime.gcenable.gowrap1()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:203 +0x25 fp=0xc0000757e0 sp=0xc0000757c8 pc=0x41b845
runtime.goexit({})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc0000757e8 sp=0xc0000757e0 pc=0x46b0e1
created by runtime.gcenable in goroutine 1
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:203 +0x66
goroutine 4 gp=0xc000007340 m=nil [GC scavenge wait]:
runtime.gopark(0xc0000240e0?, 0x657100?, 0x1?, 0x0?, 0xc000007340?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000075f78 sp=0xc000075f58 pc=0x43b98e
runtime.goparkunlock(...)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:408
runtime.(*scavengerState).park(0x797520)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcscavenge.go:425 +0x49 fp=0xc000075fa8 sp=0xc000075f78 pc=0x4246e9
runtime.bgscavenge(0xc0000240e0)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgcscavenge.go:653 +0x3c fp=0xc000075fc8 sp=0xc000075fa8 pc=0x424c7c
runtime.gcenable.gowrap2()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:204 +0x25 fp=0xc000075fe0 sp=0xc000075fc8 pc=0x41b7e5
runtime.goexit({})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc000075fe8 sp=0xc000075fe0 pc=0x46b0e1
created by runtime.gcenable in goroutine 1
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mgc.go:204 +0xa5
goroutine 18 gp=0xc000102700 m=nil [finalizer wait]:
runtime.gopark(0xc000074648?, 0x40f445?, 0xa8?, 0x1?, 0xc0000061c0?)
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/proc.go:402 +0xce fp=0xc000074620 sp=0xc000074600 pc=0x43b98e
runtime.runfinq()
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mfinal.go:194 +0x107 fp=0xc0000747e0 sp=0xc000074620 pc=0x41a887
runtime.goexit({})
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/asm_amd64.s:1695 +0x1 fp=0xc0000747e8 sp=0xc0000747e0 pc=0x46b0e1
created by runtime.createfing in goroutine 1
/usr/lib/go-1.22/src/runtime/mfinal.go:164 +0x3d
exit status 2
Appendices
This problem can also happen with ProvingKey.
Prover and verifier denial of service in case of maliciously crafted inputs (public key, verification key).
The issue is patched in Consensys/gnark#1307. It was merged to gnark master at Consensys/gnark@47ae846. The fix will be incorporated in the next minor release of gnark (v0.11.1).
There are no convenient work-arounds currently. The best approach currently is to run key verification as a separate service which halts the verification pipeline in case of OOM when verification keys come from untrusted sources.