GHSA-f44q-634c-jvwv
HIGHlibp2p DoS vulnerability from lack of resource management
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.
Blast Radius
libp2pReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
Versions older than v0.38.0 of js-libp2p are vulnerable to targeted resource exhaustion attacks. These attacks target libp2p’s connection, stream, peer, and memory management. An attacker can cause the allocation of large amounts of memory, ultimately leading to the process getting killed by the host’s operating system. While a connection manager tasked with keeping the number of connections within manageable limits has been part of js-libp2p, this component was designed to handle the regular churn of peers, not a targeted resource exhaustion attack.
Patches (What to do as a js-libp2p consumer:)
Update your js-libp2p dependency to v0.38.0 or greater.
Workarounds
There are no workarounds, and so we recommend to upgrade your js-libp2p version. Some range of attacks can be mitigated using OS tools (like manually blocking malicious peers using iptables or ufw ) or making use of a load balancer in front of libp2p nodes. You can also use the allow deny list in js-libp2p to deny specific peers.
However these require direct action & responsibility on your part and are no substitutes for upgrading js-libp2p. Therefore, we highly recommend upgrading your js-libp2p version for the way it enables tighter scoped limits and provides visibility into and easier reasoning about js-libp2p resource utilization.
References
- DoS Mitigation page for more information on how to incorporate mitigation strategies, monitor your application, and respond to attacks: https://docs.libp2p.io/reference/dos-mitigation/.
- Documentation on how to configure limits to prevent excessive resource consumption: https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p/blob/master/doc/LIMITS.md
- Documentation on how to configure metrics: https://github.com/libp2p/js-libp2p/blob/master/doc/METRICS.md
Please see the related disclosure for go-libp2p: https://github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p/security/advisories/GHSA-j7qp-mfxf-8xjw and rust-libp2p: https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p/security/advisories/GHSA-jvgw-gccv-q5p8
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected].
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | libp2p | all versions | 0.38.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for libp2p. 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.
Fix
Update libp2p to 0.38.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-f44q-634c-jvwv 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-f44q-634c-jvwv 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-f44q-634c-jvwv. 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-f44q-634c-jvwv in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-f44q-634c-jvwv across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.