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CWA-2025-006: wasmd's improper error handling may lead to IBC channel opening despite error

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 10, 2025 in CosmWasm/wasmd • Updated Jun 11, 2025

Package

gomod github.com/CosmWasm/wasmd (Go)

Affected versions

= 0.60.0
>= 0.55.0, < 0.55.1
>= 0.54.0, < 0.54.1
>= 0.51.0, < 0.53.3

Patched versions

0.60.1
0.55.1
0.54.1
0.53.3

Description

CWA-2025-006: Improper error handling may lead to IBC channel opening despite error

Severity

High (Considerable + Likely)1

Affected versions:

  • wasmd 0.60.0
  • wasmd >= 0.51.0 < 0.55.1

Patched versions:

  • wasmd 0.60.1, 0.55.1, 0.54.1, 0.53.3

Description of the bug

A contract erroring during IBC channel opening does not prevent the channel from opening.

Applying the patch

The patch will be shipped in a wasmd release. You will also have to update libwasmvm if you build statically.
If you already use the latest / close to latest wasmd, you can update more or less as follows:

  1. Check the current wasmd version: go list -m github.com/CosmWasm/wasmd
  2. Bump the github.com/CosmWasm/wasmd dependency in your go.mod to 0.60.1 (Cosmos SDK 0.53 compatible), 0.55.1 (Cosmos SDK 0.50 compatible), 0.54.1 or 0.53.3; go mod tidy; commit.
  3. If you use the static libraries libwasmvm_muslc.aarch64.a/libwasmvm_muslc.x86_64.a, make sure that you use the same version as your wasmvm version.
  4. Check the updated wasmd version: go list -m github.com/CosmWasm/wasmd and ensure you see 0.60.1, 0.55.1, 0.54.1 or 0.53.3.
  5. Follow your regular practices to deploy chain upgrades.

The patch is consensus breaking.

Acknowledgement

This problem was discovered during an audit of the CosmWasm stack performed by Sherlock and funded by ICF/ICL in Q1 2025. Thank you for that work!

If you believe you have found a bug in the Interchain Stack or would like to contribute to the
program by reporting a bug, please see https://hackerone.com/cosmos.

Timeline

  • 2025-03-03: Auditor informs Confio about this issue.
  • 2025-04-10: Confio developed the patch internally.
  • 2025-06-05: Upcoming patch is announced.
  • 2025-06-10: Patch is released.

References

Footnotes

  1. following Amulet's Severity Classification Framework ACMv1.2: https://github.com/interchainio/security/blob/0295254e8645301ccb606d46108a45cede0a73e0/resources/CLASSIFICATION_MATRIX.md

@chipshort chipshort published to CosmWasm/wasmd Jun 10, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 11, 2025
Reviewed Jun 11, 2025
Last updated Jun 11, 2025

Severity

High

EPSS score

Weaknesses

No CWEs

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-79xg-q4qm-7v9w

Source code

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