Is CVE-2024-48949 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2024-48949 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2024-48949?

Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 10 October 2024.

Which products and versions are affected?

elliptic (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.5.6.

Is there a fix for CVE-2024-48949?

Yes. elliptic (npm): upgrade to 6.5.6 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2024-48949 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2024-48949?

Check whether you run elliptic (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2024-48949: Elliptic EdDSA signature malleability via missing validation

CVE-2024-48949 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2024-10-10

Elliptic is a widely-used cryptography library for JavaScript (10+ million downloads weekly) that implements elliptic curve signature schemes. A flaw in its EdDSA signature verification allows attackers to forge alternative valid signatures for known message-signature pairs by omitting a required bounds check. This breaks the assumption of signature uniqueness, potentially compromising systems that rely on this property for authentication, consensus protocols, or data integrity.

Technologies: elliptic (npm). Vendors: npm.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2024-48949 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2024-48949 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2024-48949?: Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 10 October 2024.
Which products and versions are affected?: elliptic (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.5.6.
Is there a fix for CVE-2024-48949?: Yes. elliptic (npm): upgrade to 6.5.6 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2024-48949 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2024-48949?: Check whether you run elliptic (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

elliptic (npm): upgrade to 6.5.6 or later
```
npm install elliptic@6.5.6
```

Technical details

The vulnerability is a missing cryptographic validation in the EdDSA verify function (lib/elliptic/eddsa/index.js). The FIPS 186-5 standard requires verifying that the signature component 's' satisfies 0 ≤ s < n (where n is the order of the base point). Elliptic omits the check `if (sig.S().gte(sig.eddsa.curve.n) || sig.S().isNeg())`, allowing malformed signatures to pass validation. An attacker with knowledge of a valid (message, signature) pair can derive alternative valid signatures sig' where s' ≡ s (mod n), exploiting signature malleability. The attack requires no authentication and is network-reachable for any system using the library. This is classified as CWE-347 (Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature). A fix adding the required bounds check was published in version 6.5.6.

Affected products

Elliptic (indutny) elliptic versions < 6.5.6

Identifiers

CVE-2024-48949
GHSA-434g-2637-qmqr

Timeline

2024-10-10: disclosed: Vulnerability published as GHSA-434g-2637-qmqr
2024-07-17: patched: Fix merged in version 6.5.6
2025-11-18: other: Trail of Bits published detailed analysis of the vulnerability

References

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