Insufficient verification of data authenticity in Zcash - #VU138434

 

Insufficient verification of data authenticity in Zcash - #VU138434

Published: July 20, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU138434
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4: 8.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: N/A
CWE-ID: CWE-345
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to counterfeit funds within the Orchard pool, including double-spend notes under multiple nullifiers and authorize spends of other users' notes.

The vulnerability exists due to improper constraint enforcement in the Orchard Action circuit variable-base scalar-multiplication gadget in halo2_gadgets when generating Orchard proofs against an under-constrained base point. A remote attacker can produce a malformed proof with a freely chosen base value to counterfeit funds within the Orchard pool, including double-spend notes under multiple nullifiers and authorize spends of other users' notes.

The zero-knowledge property hides the malformed witness, leaving no distinguishing on-chain trace.


Affected software

Zcash

Remediation

Install security update from vendor's website.

Zcash - update to 6.20.0

External References

Related Security Bulletins