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EthereumApplication

CVE-2017-14451

CRITICAL · 10.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-12-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An exploitable out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in libevm (Ethereum Virtual Machine) of CPP-Ethereum. A specially crafted smart contract code can cause an out-of-bounds read which can subsequently trigger an out-of-bounds write resulting in remote code execution. An attacker can create/send malicious smart contract to trigger this vulnerability.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in libevm (Ethereum Virtual Machine) of CPP-Ethereum. Specially crafted smart contract code can cause an out-of-bounds read which triggers an out-of-bounds write, leading to remote code execution. Attackers exploit this by sending malicious smart contracts to vulnerable nodes.

MitigationUpdate CPP-Ethereum to patched versions; avoid executing untrusted or unverified smart contracts on production systems until patched.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
EthereumApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if CPP-Ethereum is installed
    Check for cpp-ethereum binaries or packages: run 'which eth' or 'which cpp-ethereum' on Linux, or check installed programs on Windows for 'eth' or 'cpp-ethereum' executables
    Affected if cpp-ethereum or eth binary is found on the system
  2. Check the Ethereum client implementation
    Run 'eth --version' or 'eth version' to identify if the client is the C++ implementation (cpp-ethereum) rather than go-ethereum (geth) or other implementations
    Affected if The output shows cpp-ethereum or C++ implementation details
  3. Confirm all versions are affected
    Since the advisory states all versions of cpp-ethereum are affected, any installed version qualifies; check version with 'eth --version' and note it for correlation
    Affected if Any version of cpp-ethereum is installed (no patched version exists)
  4. Determine if untrusted contract execution is possible
    Check if the node has an exposed JSON-RPC interface (port 8545 typically) or if it processes smart contracts from untrusted parties; inspect running processes for ethereum node services and their network binding configuration
    Affected if The node accepts and executes smart contracts from untrusted sources or has an accessible RPC endpoint

The environment is affected if cpp-ethereum (the C++ Ethereum client) is installed and processes or can process untrusted smart contracts, regardless of version since all versions are vulnerable.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update CPP-Ethereum to patched versions; avoid executing untrusted or unverified smart contracts on production systems until patched.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. 1. Stop using CPP-Ethereum (cpp-ethereum) as it is deprecated and no longer maintained.
  2. 2. Migrate to an actively supported Ethereum implementation such as go-ethereum (geth), openethereum, or besu.
  3. 3. If CPP-Ethereum is still in use in any environment, decommission or isolate the systems running it.
  4. 4. For smart contract execution, ensure production environments use current, supported Ethereum clients.
Caveat CPP-Ethereum is deprecated; there is no direct upgrade path. Migration to go-ethereum or another supported client is required.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ethereum Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-14451 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data