How severe is GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9?

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9?

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 affects the following packages: github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9?

Update github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap to 0.12.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 in my Go dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 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 GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 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 GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9?

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.9%, placing it in the 59th 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 GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9?

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 is classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400), CWE-770 (CWE-770). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 was published on May 11, 2023 and was last updated on November 8, 2023. 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

github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap vulnerable to DOS unbounded persistent memory leakGHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9

HIGHFix: ipfs/boxo@62cbac4

GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap. A fix is available for github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Also known asCVE-2023-25568 GHSA-m974-xj4j-7qv5GO-2023-1766

Published

May 11, 2023

Updated

Nov 8, 2023

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 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 GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs59th percentile — riskier than 59% 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/ipfs/go-bitswap

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

This package has been moved to github.com/ipfs/boxo/bitswap, this vulnerability is tracked there: https://github.com/ipfs/boxo/security/advisories/GHSA-m974-xj4j-7qv5 (CVE-2023-25568)

Remediation

This is a two step process:

Apply one of:
- (recommended) upgrade from github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap to github.com/ipfs/boxo/bitswap.
- If you are still using github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap and cannot upgrade to boxo, you can upgrade to github.com/ipfs/[email protected], this will replace the go-bitswap implementation by stubs which points to boxo.
Open https://github.com/ipfs/boxo/security/advisories/GHSA-m974-xj4j-7qv5 and then follow boxo's remediation section.

Vulnerable symbols

>= v0.9.0; < v0.12.0
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/server/internal/decision.(*Engine).MessageReceived
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/server/internal/decision.(*Engine).NotifyNewBlocks
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/server/internal/decision.(*Engine).findOrCreate
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/server/internal/decision.(*Engine).PeerConnected
v0.8.0
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).MessageReceived
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).NotifyNewBlocks
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).findOrCreate
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).PeerConnected
< v0.8.0
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).MessageReceived
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).receiveBlocksFrom
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).findOrCreate
- github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/internal/decision.(*Engine).PeerConnected

Workarounds

If you are using the stubs at github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap and not taking advantage of the features provided by the server, refactoring your code to use the new split API will allows you to run in a client-only mode using: github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap/client.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap`	all versions	0.12.0`go get github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap@v0.12.0`

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

boxoprotocol

2 versions

0.4.00.5.0

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/ipfs/go-bitswap, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap to 0.12.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q3j6-22wf-3jh9 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

This package has been moved to [`github.com/ipfs/boxo/bitswap`](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/ipfs/boxo/bitswap), this vulnerability is tracked there: https://github.com/ipfs/boxo/security/advisories/GHSA-m974-xj4j-7qv5 (`CVE-2023-25568`) ### Remediation This is a two step process: 1. Apply one of: - (**recommended**) upgrade from `github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap` to `github.com/ipfs/boxo/bitswap`. - If you are still using `github.com/ipfs/go-bitswap` and cannot upgrade to `boxo`, you can upgrade to `github.com/ipfs/[email protected]`, this will replace the `go-bitswap` implementation by st