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Vulnerability record · CVE-2023-46129 · published 31 October 2023

CVE-2023-46129: Linuxfoundation nats-server vulnerability

Linuxfoundation · Nats Server

NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. The cryptographic key handling library, nkeys, recently gained support for encryption, not just for signing/authentication. This is used in nats-server 2.10 (Sep 2023) and newer for authentication callouts. In nkeys versions 0.4.0 through 0.4.5, corresponding with NATS server versions 2.10.0 through 2.10.3, the nkeys library's `xkeys` encryption handling logic mistakenly passed an array by value into an internal function, where the function mutated that buffer to populate the encryption key to use. As a result, all encryption was actually to an all-zeros key. This affects encryption only, not signing. FIXME: FILL IN IMPACT ON NATS-SERVER AUTH CALLOUT SECURITY. nkeys Go library 0.4.6, corresponding with NATS Server 2.10.4, has a patch for this issue. No known workarounds are available. For any application handling auth callouts in Go, if using the nkeys library, update the dependency, recompile and deploy that in lockstep.

7.5 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 0.37% · top 71.3% CWE-321 · CWE-321CWE-325 · CWE-325
7.5CVSS 3.1 base score
0.37%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
2Affected product versions listed by NVD
8References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. The cryptographic key handling library, nkeys, recently gained support for encryption, not just for signing/authentication. This is used in nats-server 2.10 (Sep 2023) and newer for authentication callouts. In nkeys versions 0.4.0 through 0.4.5, corresponding with NATS server versions 2.10.0 through 2.10.3, the nkeys library's `xkeys` encryption handling logic mistakenly passed an array by value into an internal function, where the function mutated that buffer to populate the encryption key to use. As a result, all encryption was actually to an all-zeros key. This affects encryption only, not signing. FIXME: FILL IN IMPACT ON NATS-SERVER AUTH CALLOUT SECURITY. nkeys Go library 0.4.6, corresponding with NATS Server 2.10.4, has a patch for this issue. No known workarounds are available. For any application handling auth callouts in Go, if using the nkeys library, update the dependency, recompile and deploy that in lockstep.

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

Affected products

2 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/31/1 Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/nats-io/nkeys/security/advisories/GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9 Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/R3UETKPUB3V5JS5TLZOF3SMTG
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ULQQONMSCQSH5Z5OWFFQHCGEZ
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/31/1 Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/nats-io/nkeys/security/advisories/GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9 Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/R3UETKPUB3V5JS5TLZOF3SMTG
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ULQQONMSCQSH5Z5OWFFQHCGEZ

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Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2023-46129), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-10-05). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.