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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.5

CVE-2021-32738 json

Utils.readChallengeTx does not verify the server account signature

published 2021-07-02 5 y ago modified 2026-07-08 4 mo ago also GHSA-6cgh-hjpw-q3gq , EUVD-2021-1444

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 44%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

js-stellar-sdk is a Javascript library for communicating with a Stellar Horizon server. 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. In js-stellar-sdk before version 8.2.3, the function does not verify that the server has signed the transaction. 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 version 8.2.3, the first version with a patch for this vulnerability, to ensure that the challenge transaction is completely valid and signed by the server creating the challenge transaction.

Patch / fix

  • npm stellar-sdk 8.2.3
  • stellar js-stellar-sdk 8.2.3

Exploit prediction

0.51% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 4.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N
GitHub 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm stellar-sdk
<8.2.3
8.2.3

Affected products

  • stellar js-stellar-sdk

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-287 Improper Authentication
  • CWE-347 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.