Frontier opcode SUICIDE touches too many storage values on large contracts
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
Frontier is Substrate's Ethereum compatibility layer. Prior to commit aea528198b3b226e0d20cce878551fd4c0e3d5d0, at the end of a contract execution, when opcode SUICIDE marks a contract to be deleted, the software uses `storage::remove_prefix` (now renamed to `storage::clear_prefix`) to remove all storages associated with it. This is a single IO primitive call passing the WebAssembly boundary. For large contracts, the call (without providing a `limit` parameter) can be slow. In addition, for parachains, all storages to be deleted will be part of the PoV, which easily exceed relay chain PoV size limit. On the other hand, Frontier's maintainers only charge a fixed cost for opcode SUICIDE. The maintainers consider the severity of this issue high, because an attacker can craft a contract with a lot of storage values on a parachain, and then call opcode SUICIDE on the contract. If the transaction makes into a parachain block, the parachain will then stall because the PoV size will exceed relay chain's limit. This is especially an issue for XCM transactions, because they can't be skipped. Commit aea528198b3b226e0d20cce878551fd4c0e3d5d0 contains a patch for this issue. For parachains, it's recommended to issue an emergency runtime upgrade as soon as possible. For standalone chains, the impact is less severe because the issue mainly affects PoV sizes. It's recommended to issue a normal runtime upgrade as soon as possible. There are no known workarounds.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| paritytech | frontier | up to 0.1.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- frontier Vendorparitytech Affected up to 0.1.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:parity:frontier:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* | up to 0.1.0 | Vulnerable | paritytech |
- cpe:2.3:a:parity:frontier:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* Versions up to 0.1.0 Vulnerable ·paritytech
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-45130
References
More paritytech Frontier vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-12975 Frontier's modexp precompile is slow for even modulus CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-16433 Message length overflow in frontier CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.1
- TI-2022-13155 Discrepency in transfer value and actual value due to incorrect truncation in Frontier CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2022-06061 Integer underflow in Frontier CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2022-18619 Incorrect Calculation in Frontier leads to inflated Ethereum chain gas prices CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2021-17977 Validity check for signed Frontier-specific extrinsic not called in block execution CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences