CVE-2022-23486
HIGHCVE-2022-23486 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in libp2p. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2022-23486 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
libp2p-rust denial of service vulnerability from lack of resource management
Blast Radius
libp2pReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
libp2p-rust is the official rust language Implementation of the libp2p networking stack. In versions prior to 0.45.1 an attacker node can cause a victim node to allocate a large number of small memory chunks, which can ultimately lead to the victim’s process running out of memory and thus getting killed by its operating system. When executed continuously, this can lead to a denial of service attack, especially relevant on a larger scale when run against more than one node of a libp2p based network. Users are advised to upgrade to libp2p v0.45.1 or above. Users unable to upgrade should reference the DoS Mitigation page for more information on how to incorporate mitigation strategies, monitor their application, and respond to attacks: https://docs.libp2p.io/reference/dos-mitigation/.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | libp2p | all versions | 0.45.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for libp2p. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update libp2p to 0.45.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-23486 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-23486 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2022-23486. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-23486 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2022-23486 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.