GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p
MEDIUMGHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Reachable Assertion vulnerability in nimiq-consensus. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
nimiq-consensus panics via RequestMacroChain micro-block locator
Blast Radius
nimiq-consensusReal-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
An unauthenticated p2p peer can cause the RequestMacroChain message handler task to panic by sending a RequestMacroChain message where the first locator hash that is on the victim’s main chain is a micro block hash (not a macro block hash).
In RequestMacroChain::handle, the handler selects the locator based only on "is on main chain", then calls get_macro_blocks() and panics via .unwrap() when the selected hash is not a macro block (BlockchainError::BlockIsNotMacro).
Patches
The patch for this vulnerability](https://github.com/nimiq/core-rs-albatross/pull/3660) is formally released as part of v1.3.0.
Workarounds
No known workarounds.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | nimiq-consensus | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nimiq-consensus. 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.
Remediation status
No patched version of nimiq-consensus has shipped for GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p 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 GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p. 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-48m6-486p-9j8p in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-48m6-486p-9j8p 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.