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GHSA-5jrj-52x8-m64h

MediumCVSS 5.3 / 10
Published Apr 25, 2024·Last modified Feb 4, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Summary

Using the sqrt builtin can result in multiple eval evaluation of side effects when the argument has side-effects. The bug is more difficult (but not impossible!) to trigger as of 0.3.4, when the unique symbol fence was introduced (https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/2914).

A contract search was performed and no vulnerable contracts were found in production.

Details

It can be seen that the build_IR function of the sqrt builtin doesn't cache the argument to the stack: https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/4595938734d9988f8e46e8df38049ae0559abedb/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L2151

As such, it can be evaluated multiple times (instead of retrieving the value from the stack).

PoC

With at least Vyper version 0.2.15+commit.6e7dba7 the following contract:

c: uint256

@internal
def some_decimal() -> decimal:
    self.c += 1
    return 1.0

@external
def foo() -> uint256:
    k: decimal = sqrt(self.some_decimal())
    return self.c

passes the following test:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity >=0.8.13;

import "../../lib/ds-test/test.sol";
import "../../lib/utils/Console.sol";
import "../../lib/utils/VyperDeployer.sol";

import "../ITest.sol";

contract ConTest is DSTest {
    VyperDeployer vyperDeployer = new VyperDeployer();

    ITest t;

    function setUp() public {
        t = ITest(vyperDeployer.deployContract("Test"));
    }

    function testFoo() public {
        uint256 val = t.foo();
        console.log(val);
        assert (val == 4);
    }
}

Patches

Patched in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/3976.

Impact

No vulnerable production contracts were found.

Risk Scores
Base Score
5.3

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a low impact on the integrity of the data.

Threat Intelligence
4.9

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
0.45%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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