VulnerabilityPublished 20 May 2026

CVE-2026-40094: nimiq core-rs-albatross · Unchecked Error Condition

Affects nimiq core-rs-albatrossSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium : upgrade to 1.4.0 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 22% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.4.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade core-rs-albatross and github/nimiq/core-rs-albatross to 1.4.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
nimiqcore-rs-albatross	Affected <1.4.0	Fixed in 1.4.0
crates.iogithub/nimiq/core-rs-albatross`pkg:cargo/github/nimiq/core-rs-albatross`Other threats	Affected <1.4.0	Fixed in 1.4.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade to nimiq core-rs-albatross version 1.4.0 or later, where this issue is fixed. No other mitigation is indicated. Patch status is not explicitly stated but the fix is included in version 1.4.0, so updating to this version or newer is recommended.

Description

nimiq-blockchain provides persistent block storage for Nimiq's Rust implementation. In versions 1.3.0 and prior, network-libp2p discovery accepts signed PeerContact updates from untrusted peers and stores them in a peer contact book, eventually leading to address book crash. A PeerContact can legally contain an empty addresses list (no intrinsic validation enforces non-empty). Later, PeerContactBook::known_peers builds an address book by taking addresses.first().expect("every peer should have at least one address"). If the attacker has inserted a signed peer contact with addresses=[], any call to get_address_book (RPC/web client) can panic and crash the node/RPC task depending on panic settings. This issue has been fixed in version 1.4.0.

Impact

The vulnerability can cause a denial-of-service condition by crashing the node or RPC task when the address book is accessed. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The CVSS score is 4.3 (medium severity), reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction needed, and impact limited to availability.

Summary

In nimiq core-rs-albatross (Rust implementation of Nimiq blockchain), versions 1.3.0 and earlier accept signed PeerContact updates from untrusted peers without enforcing that the addresses list is non-empty. The PeerContactBook::known_peers function assumes each peer has at least one address and calls addresses.first().expect(), which panics if the list is empty. An attacker can exploit this by inserting a signed peer contact with an empty addresses list, causing a panic and crash of the node or RPC task. This denial-of-service vulnerability is resolved in version 1.4.0.

CWE-754Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product does not check or incorrectly checks for unusual or exceptional conditions that are not expected to occur frequently during day to day operation of the product.
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is expected.
Implementation
If using exception handling, catch and throw specific exceptions instead of overly-general exceptions (CWE-396, CWE-397). Catch and handle exceptions as locally as possible so that exceptions do not propagate too far up the call stack (CWE-705). Avoid unchecked or uncaught exceptions where feasible (CWE-248).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 21 May 2026, 11:37 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-754

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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