State-Sync Node Crash Vulnerability in Nimiq by Nimiq

CVE-2026-54541

What is CVE-2026-54541?

The Nimiq network implemented in Rust has a vulnerability where a malicious state-sync peer can crash a syncing node. This occurs when the attacker sends a specially crafted TrieChunk proof containing duplicate TrieProofNode values. The function TrieProof::verify can erroneously process these equal keys, leading to a panic within the node as it attempts to validate untrusted data. Although this issue can cause a temporary outage due to the node's restart and resynchronization, exploitation requires the adversary to be in a position to act as the victim's sync peer. The vulnerability is effectively addressed in version 1.6.0.

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