CVE-2023-25568

Boxo bitswap/server: DOS unbounded persistent memory leak

HIGH

7.5

CVSS Score

Published: May 10, 2023 at 12:00 AM UTC

Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:41 AM UTC

2 products affected across 2 vendorsBoxoBoxo

Using boxo by ipfs?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect boxo - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available

Start Free Sign In

Severity

HIGH7.5

Exploit prediction

EPSS 0.9%

SSVC

No known exploit

Description

Boxo, formerly known as go-libipfs, is a library for building IPFS applications and implementations. In versions 0.4.0 and 0.5.0, if an attacker is able allocate arbitrary many bytes in the Bitswap server, those allocations are lasting even if the connection is closed. This affects users accepting untrusted connections with the Bitswap server and also affects users using the old API stubs at `github.com/ipfs/go-libipfs/bitswap` because users then transitively import `github.com/ipfs/go-libipfs/bitswap/server`. Boxo versions 0.6.0 and 0.4.1 contain a patch for this issue. As a workaround, those who are using the stub object at `github.com/ipfs/go-libipfs/bitswap` not taking advantage of the features provided by the server can refactor their code to use the new split API that will allow them to run in a client only mode: `github.com/ipfs/go-libipfs/bitswap/client`.