CVE-2026-54542
nimiq-primitives: Out-of-bounds panic in KeyNibbles::Add from oversized child suffix in a deserialized proof
Description
### Impact A malicious peer acting as a state-sync source can crash a syncing node with a crafted `TrieChunk` whose proof contains a `TrieNodeChild` whose `suffix`, when concatenated with the parent key via `KeyNibbles::Add`, exceeds the fixed 63-byte backing array. `Add` (`primitives/src/key_nibbles.rs:332` / `:341`) indexes `bytes[self.bytes_len()..self.bytes_len() + other.bytes_len()]` with no combined-length check, causing an out-of-bounds slice panic (both the even- and odd-length branches). `KeyNibbles` deserialization validates only the individual `length <= 126`, not the combined parent + suffix length. The panic occurs at `put_chunk` → `child.key()` → `is_stump()` → `+`, i.e. **before** `proof.verify()`, so no valid proof is required. As with the related `child_index` issue, exploitation requires being the victim's sync peer during state sync, and the resulting crash is transient (the node restarts and re-syncs). Affected: core-rs-albatross <= 1.5.1 (`nimiq-primitives`). ### Patches Fixed in **1.6.0** via https://github.com/nimiq/core-rs-albatross/pull/3790 (commit `eabfc3e2`), which guards key-nibble concatenation against exceeding the maximum length instead of indexing out of bounds. ### Workarounds None other than syncing only from trusted peers. Upgrade to 1.6.0.
How to fix CVE-2026-54542
To remediate CVE-2026-54542, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.
- —upgrade to 1.6.0 or later
Is CVE-2026-54542 being exploited?
No exploitation signal available. Neither CISA KEV nor a current EPSS score has been published for CVE-2026-54542.
Affected packages (1)
- from 0, < 1.6.0
CVSS scores
| Source | Version | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| osv | CVSS 3.1 | LOW3.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L |