Incorrect Conversion between Numeric Types in Besu Ethereum Client (Versions 22.1.3 - 22.7.1) Leads to Consensus Failure and Gas Limit Exceedance

CVE-2022-36025 · CRITICAL Severity

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Besu is a Java-based Ethereum client. In versions newer than 22.1.3 and prior to 22.7.1, Besu is subject to an Incorrect Conversion between Numeric Types. An error in 32 bit signed and unsigned types in the calculation of available gas in the CALL operations (including DELEGATECALL) results in incorrect gas being passed into called contracts and incorrect gas being returned after call execution. Where the amount of gas makes a difference in the success or failure, or if the gas is a negative 64 bit value, the execution will result in a different state root than expected, resulting in a consensus failure in networks with multiple EVM implementations. In networks with a single EVM implementation this can be used to execute with significantly more gas than then transaction requested, possibly exceeding gas limitations. This issue is patched in version 22.7.1. As a workaround, reverting to version 22.1.3 or earlier will prevent incorrect execution.

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