Libp2P Gossipsub

libp2p-rust is the official rust language Implementation of the libp2p networking stack. Prior to version 0.49.4, the Rust libp2p Gossipsub implementation contains a remotely reachable panic in backoff expiry handling. After a peer sends a crafted PRUNE control message with an attacker-controlled, near-maximum backoff value, the value is accepted and stored as an Instant near the representable upper bound. On a later heartbeat, the implementation performs unchecked Instant + Duration arithmetic (backoff_time + slack), which can overflow and panic with: overflow when adding duration to instant. This issue is reachable from any Gossipsub peer over normal TCP + Noise + mplex/yamux connectivity and requires no further authentication beyond becoming a protocol peer. This issue has been patched in version 0.49.4.

Published: 2026-03-31T15:47:31.785Z
Updated: 2026-03-31T17:34:57.667Z

libp2p-rust is the official rust language Implementation of the libp2p networking stack. In versions prior to 0.49.3, the Gossipsub implementation accepts attacker-controlled PRUNE backoff values and may perform unchecked time arithmetic when storing backoff state. A specially crafted PRUNE control message with an extremely large backoff (e.g. u64::MAX) can lead to Duration/Instant overflow during backoff update logic, triggering a panic in the networking state machine. This is remotely reachable over a normal libp2p connection and does not require authentication. Any application exposing a libp2p Gossipsub listener and using the affected backoff-handling path can be crashed by a network attacker that can reach the service port. The attack can be repeated by reconnecting and replaying the crafted control message. This issue has been fixed in version 0.49.3.

Published: 2026-03-20T05:46:42.276Z
Updated: 2026-03-20T15:41:03.864Z