CVE-2023-26248
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 · uneditedThe Kademlia DHT (go-libp2p-kad-dht 0.20.0 and earlier) used in IPFS (0.18.1 and earlier) assigns routing information for content (i.e., information about who holds the content) to be stored by peers whose peer IDs have a small DHT distance from the content ID. This allows an attacker to censor content by generating many Sybil peers whose peer IDs have a small distance from the content ID, thus hijacking the content resolution process.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Kademlia DHT implementation in go-libp2p-kad-dht 0.20.0 and earlier uses a flawed content routing assignment mechanism where storage responsibility is determined by peer ID proximity to content ID. This allows attackers to generate Sybil peers with IDs strategically chosen to have small DHT distance from target content, effectively hijacking the content resolution process and enabling censorship.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify go-libp2p-kad-dht dependencyInspect your project dependencies (go.mod, go.sum) for the go-libp2p-kad-dht library and note its versionAffected if The library version is 0.20.0 or earlier
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Verify DHT content routing is enabledReview your application configuration or code to determine if the Kademlia DHT is being used for content routing (often enabled via DHT client mode or full mode)Affected if DHT content routing is enabled and the library version is 0.20.0 or earlier
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Check for unexpected peer connectionsMonitor active peer connections in your DHT network and inspect peer IDs for unusual patterns or clustering near specific content IDsAffected if Many peers with IDs having unusually small XOR distance to content you are publishing or retrieving are present
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Review peer ID generation in useAudit how peer IDs are generated in your libp2p node; determine if default cryptographic generation is in use or if custom/legacy ID generation is enabledAffected if Non-default peer ID generation is in use and the library version is 0.20.0 or earlier
You are affected if your application uses go-libp2p-kad-dht version 0.20.0 or earlier with DHT content routing enabled.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade to go-libp2p-kad-dht 0.20.1+ and IPFS 0.18.2+ to obtain patched versions that address the DHT distance-based routing assignment vulnerability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-26248 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-26248 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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