GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-703 vulnerability in evm. A fix is available for evm — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Rust EVM erroneousle handles `record_external_operation` error return
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 GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v.
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
GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v 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 379,145 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
evmReal-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
Impact
In rust-evm, a feature called record_external_operation was introduced, allowing library users to record custom gas changes. This feature can have some bogus interactions with the call stack.
In particular, during finalization of a CREATE or CREATE2, in the case that the substack execution happens successfully, rust-evm will first commit the substate, and then call record_external_operation(Write(out_code.len())). If record_external_operation later fails, this error is returned to the parent call stack, instead of Succeeded. Yet, the substate commitment already happened. This causes smart contracts able to commit state changes, when the parent caller contract receives zero address (which usually indicates that the execution has failed).
This issue only impacts library users with custom record_external_operation that returns errors.
Patches
The issue is patched in release 0.41.1. The commit can be seem here.
Workarounds
None.
References
Patch PR #264.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | evm | all versions | 0.41.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.41.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for evm, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update evm to 0.41.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-27wg-99g8-2v4v across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.