How severe is CVE-2023-40591?

CVE-2023-40591 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-40591?

CVE-2023-40591 affects the following packages: github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2023-40591?

Update github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum to 1.12.1-stable or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-40591 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-40591 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-40591 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Is CVE-2023-40591 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-40591 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-40591?

CVE-2023-40591 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.1%, placing it in the 66th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-40591?

CVE-2023-40591 is classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-40591 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-40591 was published on September 6, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2023-40591 — go-ethereum

HIGH

CVE-2023-40591 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum. A fix is available for github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Denial of service via malicious p2p message in go-ethereum

Also known asGHSA-ppjg-v974-84cmGO-2023-2046

Published

Sep 6, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 6, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
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-2023-40591.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs66th percentile — riskier than 66% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node.

Details

The p2p handler spawned a new goroutine to respond to ping requests. By flooding a node with ping requests, an unbounded number of goroutines can be created, leading to resource exhaustion and potentially crash due to OOM.

Patches

The fix is included in geth version 1.12.1-stable, i.e, 1.12.2-unstable and onwards.

Fixed by https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/27887

Workarounds

No known workarounds.

Credits

This bug was reported by Patrick McHardy and reported via [email protected].

References

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum`	all versions	1.12.1-stable`go get github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum@v1.12.1-stable`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

go ethereumethereum

≥ 1.10.0 && < 1.12.1

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum to 1.12.1-stable or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-40591 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact A vulnerable node, can be made to consume unbounded amounts of memory when handling specially crafted p2p messages sent from an attacker node. ### Details The p2p handler spawned a new goroutine to respond to `ping` requests. By flooding a node with ping requests, an unbounded number of goroutines can be created, leading to resource exhaustion and potentially crash due to OOM. ### Patches The fix is included in geth version `1.12.1-stable`, i.e, `1.12.2-unstable` and onwards. Fixed by https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/27887 ### Workarounds No known workarounds.