Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0229 · nostr
RUSTSEC-2026-0229: NIP-98 authorization parsing permits resource exhaustion
Short answerA security vulnerability in the nostr crate: NIP-98 authorization parsing permits resource exhaustion. High severity (CVSS 7.5). Fixed in 0.44.7: update to a fixed version.
| Crate | nostr |
|---|---|
| Type | Vulnerability (denial-of-service) |
| Affected versions | Before 0.44.7. |
| Fixed in | 0.44.7 |
| Severity | High, CVSS 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| Published | 2026-08-01 |
| Last changed | 2026-08-02 |
| Also known as | none |
What to do
- See which version you have:
cargo tree -i nostr(it also shows which of your dependencies pulls it in). - Update within your version requirement:
cargo update -p nostr. If the fix is a newer major or minor than your requirement allows, raise it in Cargo.toml (for examplenostr = "0.44.7") or update the dependency that pulls it in. - Check again with
cargo audit, or paste your Cargo.lock into our Cargo.toml checker.
Details from the advisory
The NIP-98 HTTP authorization parser Base64-decoded the complete authorization value and parsed the resulting JSON event without applying an application-level size limit. Both operations occurred before the event's signature and authorization fields could be validated.
An unauthenticated remote client could send an oversized Authorization: Nostr header to a server using this parser. Each request caused memory allocation and decoding and JSON parsing work proportional to the supplied value, allowing repeated requests to consume server memory and CPU. The impact depends on any lower HTTP header limit already enforced by the hosting server. The issue does not bypass NIP-98 authentication or disclose protected data.
The parser now rejects oversized encoded input before Base64 allocation and rejects decoded authorization events larger than 64 KiB before JSON parsing.
References
- Package: crates.io/crates/nostr
- Advisory: rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0229.html
- Web: github.com/nostrdevkit/nostr/commit/fd69825a3aa83c4a99f0d620fafba66c765db96b
From the RustSec Advisory Database (CC0-1.0) via the OSV export, downloaded Oct 24, 2026. Severity score computed from the published CVSS vector.
Other advisories for nostr
- Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0216 · 2026-07-25Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP‑44 v2 payload
- Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0219 · 2026-07-26Remote Denial of Service via malformed NIP-04 IV
- Vulnerability MediumRUSTSEC-2026-0225 · 2026-08-01Debug output exposes NIP-46 and NIP-60 credentials
- Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0226 · 2026-08-01Wallet event parsers accept unauthenticated events
- Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0227 · 2026-08-01NIP-44 v2 decryption permits resource exhaustion
- Vulnerability MediumRUSTSEC-2026-0228 · 2026-08-01NIP-04 parsing amplifies malformed ciphertext memory use
- Vulnerability HighRUSTSEC-2026-0230 · 2026-08-01Empty NIP-50 search filters can panic
Up next
Same cratenostr: security historyEvery advisory for this crate, and whether it is safe to use today.Read it next →Did this answer your question?