CVE-2018-12018

HIGH

Go Ethereum < 1.8.11 - Denial of Service via LES GetBlockHeadersMsg Integer Signedness Error

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2018-12018. PoCs published by k3v142.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This PoC exploits CVE-2018-12018, a DoS vulnerability in Go Ethereum (geth) due to an integer signedness error in the LES protocol's GetBlockHeadersMsg handler. It sends a malformed packet with a -1 query.Skip value to crash the target node.

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.

Exploits (1)

nomisec WORKING POC 6 stars
by k3v142 · poc
https://github.com/k3v142/CVE-2018-12018

This PoC exploits CVE-2018-12018, a DoS vulnerability in Go Ethereum (geth) due to an integer signedness error in the LES protocol's GetBlockHeadersMsg handler. It sends a malformed packet with a -1 query.Skip value to crash the target node.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Go Ethereum (geth) before 1.8.11
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the target node · Target node running a vulnerable version of geth
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4
Core References
Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/releases/tag/v1.8.11
Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/16891
Exploit, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://peckshield.com/2018/06/27/EPoD/

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.1217
EPSS Percentile 94.0%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-129
Status published
Products (2)
ethereum/go-ethereum 0 - 1.8.11Go
ethereum/go_ethereum < 1.8.11
Published Jul 05, 2018
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026