CVE-2023-40015 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.7) CWE-670 vulnerability in vyper. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Vyper: reversed order of side effects for some operations
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-40015.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-40015 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
vyperReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
For the following (probably non-exhaustive) list of expressions, the compiler evaluates the arguments from right to left instead of left to right.
- unsafe_add
- unsafe_sub
- unsafe_mul
- unsafe_div
- pow_mod256
- |, &, ^ (bitwise operators)
- bitwise_or (deprecated)
- bitwise_and (deprecated)
- bitwise_xor (deprecated)
- raw_call
- <, >, <=, >=, ==, !=
- in, not in (when lhs and rhs are enums)
This behaviour becomes a problem when the evaluation of one of the arguments produces side effects that other arguments depend on. The following expressions can produce side-effect:
- state modifying external call
- state modifying internal call
raw_callpop()when used on a Dynamic Array stored in the storagecreate_minimal_proxy_tocreate_copy_ofcreate_from_blueprint
For example:
f:uint256
@internal
def side_effect() -> uint256:
self.f = 12
return 1
@external
def foo() -> uint256:
return unsafe_add(self.f,self.side_effect()) # returns 13 instead of 1
a:DynArray[uint256, 12]
@external
def bar() -> bool:
self.a = [1,2,3]
return len(self.a) == self.a.pop() # return false instead of true
Patches
not yet patched, will address in a future release. tracking in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/issues/3604.
Workarounds
When using expressions from the list above, make sure that the arguments of the expression do not produce side effects or, if one does, that no other argument is dependent on those side effects.
References
Are there any links users can visit to find out more?
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | vyper | all versions | No fix |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for vyper, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of vyper has shipped for CVE-2023-40015 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-40015 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-40015. 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-2023-40015 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-40015 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.