Authentication Bypass in stellar-sdk (CVE-2021-32738)
Summary
Authentication bypass in stellar-sdk (CVE-2021-32738). Data can be tampered with by attackers. Exploitable via Utils.readChallengeTx. Mitigation: upgrade to 8.2.3 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
The Utils.readChallengeTx function used in SEP-10 Stellar Web Authentication states in its function documentation that it reads and validates the challenge transaction including verifying that the serverAccountID has signed the transaction. The function does not verify that the server has signed the transaction and has been fixed so that it does in v8.2.3.
Applications that also used Utils.verifyChallengeTxThreshold or Utils.verifyChallengeTxSigners to verify the signatures including the server signature on the challenge transaction are unaffected as those functions verify the server signed the transaction.
Applications calling Utils.readChallengeTx should update to v8.2.3 to ensure that the challenge transaction is completely valid and signed by the server creating the challenge transaction.
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-32738 has been found in stellar-sdk.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like Utils.readChallengeTx over the network to misuse the product.
Data can be tampered with by attackers.
What to do: upgrade stellar-sdk to 8.2.3 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "stellar-sdk CVE-2021-32738" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2021-32738 (stellar-sdk) — CWE-287
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Attack surface: Utils.readChallengeTx / serverAccountID / Utils.verifyChallengeTxThreshold / Utils.verifyChallengeTxSigners
Patched: 8.2.3 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Authentication bypass (CWE-287) exists in stellar-sdk. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via Utils.readChallengeTx.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of stellar-sdk. Attack surface: Utils.readChallengeTx / serverAccountID / Utils.verifyChallengeTxThreshold / Utils.verifyChallengeTxSigners.
Severity: ?. Data can be tampered with by attackers.
Update to 8.2.3.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'stellar-sdk' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'stellar-sdk' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
stellar-sdkを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade stellar-sdk to 8.2.3ステージング環境で 8.2.3 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com