Summary
IBC-Go: Non-deterministic JSON Unmarshalling of IBC Acknowledgement can result in a chain halt
Name: ISA-2025-001: Non-deterministic JSON Unmarshalling of IBC Acknowledgement can result in a chain halt
Component: IBC-Go
Criticality: High (Considerable Impact; Likely Likelihood per ACMv1.2)
Affected versions: IBC-Go >= v7; Earlier IBC-Go versions MAY also be affected.
Affected users: Validators, Full nodes, IBC Middleware authors
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. The following patch is in addition to the previous patch which now extends the same protection to all applications beyond transfer.
Workarounds
To prevent this state from being introduced to a chain, it is possible to permission Channel Opening as a workaround.
Notes on Re-Release
This is an extension of the previous patch, please update to the latest patch to get full coverage against the reported issue.
Is this state breaking?
This patch is not state breaking unless an exploit is submitted before the patch is applied across the network in which case the chain will halt just as if it was unpatched. Thus, you can safely apply this patch in a rolling manner and encourage validators to patch as soon as possible in order to prevent any chain halts (and we've already cut new versions of these for you).
Testing we have done to gain more confidence in this release
- In addition to testing ibc-go, we also did the following:
- Tested PFM v7 and v8 after bumping dependencies
- Tested ibc-hooks v7 and v8 after bumping dependencies
- Ran a patched node on Cosmos Hub Mainnet and triggered failing and successful transactions that used PFM
- Ran a patched node on Osmosis mainnet and triggered failing and successful transactions that used ibc-hooks
This is a more thorough process than before, so we have higher confidence.
This issue was reported to the Cosmos Bug Bounty Program by swelf19 on HackerOne on February 18, 2025. If you believe you have found a bug in the Interchain Stack or would like to contribute to the program by reporting a bug, please see https://hackerone.com/cosmos.
If you have questions about Interchain security efforts, please reach out to our official communication channel at [email protected]. For more information about the Interchain Foundation’s engagement with Amulet, and to sign up for security notification emails, please see https://github.com/interchainio/security.
A Github Security Advisory for this issue is available in the IBC-Go repository.
Impact
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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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V? GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V is a critical-severity security vulnerability in github.com/cosmos/ibc-go (go), affecting versions < 7.10.0. It is fixed in 7.10.0, 8.7.0.
- Which packages are affected by GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V?
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v8(go) (versions >= 8.0.0-alpha.1, < 8.7.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v2(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v3(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v4(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v5(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v6(go) (versions < 7.10.0)github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v7(go) (versions < 7.10.0)
- Is there a fix for GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V? Yes. GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V is fixed in 7.10.0, 8.7.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-4WF3-5QJ9-368V 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-4WF3-5QJ9-368V 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-4WF3-5QJ9-368V?
- Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-goto 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v8to 8.7.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v2to 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v3to 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v4to 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v5to 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v6to 7.10.0 or later - Upgrade
github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/v7to 7.10.0 or later
- Upgrade