dbcve.org
DiscoveryApplication · Consensys

CVE-2024-23688

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-01-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.4.5 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Consensys Discovery versions less than 0.4.5 uses the same AES/GCM nonce for the entire session. which should ideally be unique for every message. The node's private key isn't compromised, only the session key generated for specific peer communication is exposed.

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

Consensys Discovery versions before 0.4.5 reuse the same AES/GCM nonce for all messages within a session instead of generating a unique nonce per message. This violates AES/GCM's security requirement for nonce uniqueness and can expose the session key used for peer-to-peer communication, allowing decryption of session traffic without compromising the node's private key.

MitigationUpgrade Consensys Discovery to version 0.4.5 or later, which implements unique nonce generation per message. Verify peer compatibility after upgrade.

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
DiscoveryApplication
Affected:< 0.4.5

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 checks

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

  1. Locate Consensys Discovery installation
    Search for Consensys Discovery in your project dependencies (e.g., check package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt, go.mod), or locate the installed library files. If running as a service, identify the process and its deployment artifacts.
    Affected if Consensys Discovery is found in your environment
  2. Identify the installed version
    Check the version of Consensys Discovery from your dependency manifest or installed package files. Compare this version against the affected range: versions before 0.4.5 are vulnerable.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 0.4.5
  3. Determine if peer-to-peer communication is enabled
    Examine your application configuration for settings related to peer discovery, node communication, or network bootstrapping. Look for configuration options that enable the discovery protocol or P2P networking features.
    Affected if Peer-to-peer discovery or P2P communication is enabled and Consensys Discovery handles the session encryption
  4. Inspect session encryption behavior (if accessible)
    If you have access to runtime behavior or network logs, monitor the encrypted traffic between peers. Look for patterns in the nonce/IV usage in AES/GCM encrypted messages within a session.
    Affected if The same nonce value is reused across multiple messages in a single session (this confirms the vulnerability is present and exploitable)

Your environment is affected if Consensys Discovery version 0.4.5 or later is not in use and peer-to-peer session encryption is active, allowing nonce reuse that compromises the session key.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.4.5 or later
Fixed in 0.4.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Consensys Discovery to version 0.4.5 or later, which implements unique nonce generation per message. Verify peer compatibility after upgrade.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.4.5

  1. Check the current version of Consensys Discovery in use by examining go.mod or dependency files
  2. Update the dependency to version 0.4.5 (e.g., go get github.com/Consensys/discovery@latest or specifically go get github.com/Consensys/[email protected])
  3. Run go mod tidy to update go.sum and clean up dependencies
  4. Rebuild and redeploy the application using the updated dependency
  5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the binary or package version

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

Fix this in Discovery Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.

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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-2024-23688 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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