gnark's Groth16 commitment extension unsound for more than one commitment
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-200.
Summary
gnark is a fast zk-SNARK library that offers a high-level API to design circuits. Versions prior to 0.11.0 have a soundness issue - in case of multiple commitments used inside the circuit the prover is able to choose all but the last commitment. As gnark uses the commitments for optimized non-native multiplication, lookup checks etc. as random challenges, then it could impact the soundness of the whole circuit. However, using multiple commitments has been discouraged due to the additional cost to the verifier and it has not been supported in the recursive in-circuit Groth16 verifier and Solidity verifier. gnark's maintainers expect the impact of the issue be very small - only for the users who have implemented the native Groth16 verifier or are using it with multiple commitments. We do not have information of such users. The issue has been patched in version 0.11.0. As a workaround, users should follow gnark maintainers' recommendation to use only a single commitment and then derive in-circuit commitments as needed using the `std/multicommit` package.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consensys | gnark | before 0.11.0 | 0.11.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/consensys/gnark (Go) | before 0.11.0 | 0.11.0 | Patch available | GHSA-q3hw-3gm4-w5cr |
- gnark VendorConsensys Affected before 0.11.0 Fixed in 0.11.0 Patch available CNA
- github.com/consensys/gnark (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.11.0 Fixed in 0.11.0 Patch available GHSA-q3hw-3gm4-w5cr
Remediation
- Fix · CNA gnark (Consensys) Fixed in 0.11.0
- Fix · GHSA-q3hw-3gm4-w5cr github.com/consensys/gnark (Go) Fixed in 0.11.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-45039
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-q3hw-3gm4-w5cr
References
More Consensys Gnark-crypto vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-30152 gnark's commitments to private witnesses in Groth16 as implemented break zero-knowledge property CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.9
- TI-2023-23797 Consensys gnark-crypto through 0.11.2 allows Signature Malleability. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2024-45039 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-45039 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-q3hw-3gm4-w5cr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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