RUSTSEC-2026-0227
NIP-44 v2 decryption permits resource exhaustion
- Severity
- 7.5 / 10
- High · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- —
- No score published
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- —
- Not classified
- Fix
0.44.7- Upgrade nostr to this version or later
Description
The NIP-44 decryption entry point Base64-decoded the complete attacker-controlled payload before determining its version or enforcing any size limit. For v2 payloads, the decoded buffer was then authenticated with HMAC even when it was much larger than the maximum payload supported by the crate's current v2 codec.
A malicious relay or event author could deliver an oversized value to an application that decrypts NIP-44 content. The value caused memory allocation and Base64 and HMAC work proportional to its size before authentication failed; knowledge of the conversation key was not required to consume those initial resources. Repeated payloads could exhaust memory or CPU and make the receiving application unavailable. The issue does not disclose plaintext or key material and does not bypass message authentication.
Decryption now reads only the encoded version prefix first, derives the bound from the largest payload the current v2 encoder can emit, and rejects oversized encoded and decoded payloads before full allocation or HMAC processing. The limit remains in the v2 implementation so a future codec with a different length format can define its own bound.
Affected versions
crates.io
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| nostr | >= 0.0.0-0, < 0.44.7 |
0.44.7 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
nostr crates.io → 0.44.7
- cargo
cargo update -p nostr --precise 0.44.7
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 7.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| RUSTSEC-2026-0230 Empty NIP-50 search filters can panic | High | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0229 NIP-98 authorization parsing permits resource exhaustion | High | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0226 Wallet event parsers accept unauthenticated events | High | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0225 Debug output exposes NIP-46 and NIP-60 credentials | Medium | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0228 NIP-04 parsing amplifies malformed ciphertext memory use | Medium | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0219 Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP-04 IV | High | Also affects nostr |
| RUSTSEC-2026-0216 Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP‑44 v2 payload | High | Also affects nostr |
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