GHSA-4jwq-572w-4388 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-770 vulnerability in evm. A fix is available for evm — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Memory over-allocation in evm crate
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-4jwq-572w-4388 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
evm🦀evm-core🦀evm🦀evm🦀evm🦀evm🦀evm🦀evm-core+4 moreReal-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
Prior to the patch, when executing specific EVM opcodes related to memory operations that use evm_core::Memory::copy_large, the crate can over-allocate memory when it is not needed, making it possible for an attacker to perform denial-of-service attack.
Patches
The flaw was corrected in commit 19ade85. Users should upgrade to ==0.21.1, ==0.23.1, ==0.24.1, ==0.25.1, >=0.26.1.
Workarounds
None. Please upgrade your evm crate version
References
Fix commit: https://github.com/rust-blockchain/evm/commit/19ade858c430ab13eb562764a870ac9f8506f8dd
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | evm | all versions | 0.21.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.21.1 |
| 🦀crates.io | evm-core | all versions | 0.21.1cargo update -p evm-core --precise 0.21.1 |
| 🦀crates.io | evm | ≥ 0.22.0&&< 0.22.1 | 0.22.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.22.1 |
| 🦀crates.io | evm | ≥ 0.23.0&&< 0.23.1 | 0.23.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.23.1 |
| 🦀crates.io | evm | ≥ 0.24.0&&< 0.24.1 | 0.24.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.24.1 |
| 🦀crates.io | evm | ≥ 0.25.0&&< 0.25.1 | 0.25.1cargo update -p evm --precise 0.25.1 |
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 0.21.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4jwq-572w-4388 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-4jwq-572w-4388 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-4jwq-572w-4388. 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-4jwq-572w-4388 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-4jwq-572w-4388 across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.