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CVE-2023-46129

xkeys Seal encryption used fixed key for all encryption

HIGH

7.5

CVSS Score

Published: October 30, 2023 at 11:47 PM UTC

Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:30 AM UTC

3 products affected across 3 vendorsNats ServerNkeysNkeys

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Severity

HIGH7.5

Exploit prediction

EPSS 0.4%

SSVC

No known exploit

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Nats Server · Linuxfoundation

95%

2.10.0 ≤ v < 2.10.4

95%

0.4.0 ≤ v < 0.4.6

Affected range stops below 0.4.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Nkeys · Nats Io

60%

v < 0.4.6v < 2.10.4

Affected range stops below 0.4.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Affected range stops below 2.10.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

Patch and advisory references

https://github.com/nats-io/nkeys/security/advisories/GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9

References (4)

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

Source: [email protected]

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/31/1

x_refsource_CONFIRMVendor Advisory

Source: [email protected]

https://github.com/nats-io/nkeys/security/advisories/GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9

Source: [email protected]

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/R3UETKPUB3V5JS5TLZOF3SMTGT5K5APS/

Source: [email protected]

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/ULQQONMSCQSH5Z5OWFFQHCGEZ3NL4DRJ/

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHGitHub_M

Attack Vector: NETWORK
Complexity: LOW
Privileges: NONE
User Interaction: NONE
Scope: UNCHANGED
Confidentiality: HIGH
Integrity: NONE
Availability: NONE

Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED

CWE

CWE-321CWE-325

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