Summary
cheqd-node affected by Non-deterministic JSON Unmarshalling of IBC Acknowledgement
Description
An issue was discovered in IBC-Go's deserialization of acknowledgements that results in non-deterministic behavior which can halt a chain. Any user that can open an IBC channel can introduce this state to the chain.
This an upstream dependency used in cheqd-node, rather than a custom module.
References
See ASA-2025-004: Non-deterministic JSON Unmarshalling of IBC Acknowledgement can result in a chain halt upstream on IBC-Go.
Impact
Could result in a chain halt.
Untrusted serialized data is processed by a deserializer that can instantiate arbitrary objects or execute code as a side effect. Typical impact: arbitrary code execution or logic abuse.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Validators, full nodes, and IBC relayers should upgrade to cheqd-node v3.1.7. This upgrade does not require a software upgrade proposal on-chain and is meant to be non state-breaking.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH? GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH is a critical-severity insecure deserialization vulnerability in github.com/cheqd/cheqd-node (go), affecting versions < 3.1.7. It is fixed in 3.1.7. Untrusted serialized data is processed by a deserializer that can instantiate arbitrary objects or execute code as a side effect.
- Which versions of github.com/cheqd/cheqd-node are affected by GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH? github.com/cheqd/cheqd-node (go) versions < 3.1.7 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH? Yes. GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH is fixed in 3.1.7. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix GHSA-33CR-M232-XQCH? Upgrade
github.com/cheqd/cheqd-nodeto 3.1.7 or later.