Zcash, before the Sapling network upgrade (2018-10-28), had a counterfeiting vulnerability.
Zcash, before the Sapling network upgrade (2018-10-28), had a counterfeiting vulnerability. A key-generation process, during evaluation of polynomials related to a to-be-proven statement, produced certain bypass elements. Availability of these elements allowed a cheating prover to bypass a consistency check, and consequently transform the proof of one statement into an ostensibly valid proof of a different statement, thereby breaking the soundness of the proof system. This misled the original Sprout zk-SNARK verifier into accepting the correctness of a transaction.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
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We use this product, ask for help- Published
- Mar 26, 2019
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 2.2% · 82th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-754
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 1 / 30 · 2.2%
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| z.cash | zcash | cpe:2.3:a:z.cash:zcash |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- z.cash zcashup to 2.0.1 inclusive
Same product
z.cash: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2019-11636Zcash 2.x allows an inexpensive approach to "fill all transactions of all blocks" and "prevent any real transaction from occurring" via a "S31Monitor
- CVE-2019-16930Zcashd in Zcash before 2.0.7-3 allows discovery of the IP address of a full node that owns a shielded address, related to mishandling of exc21Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-754 · Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional ConditionsCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- fortune.com/2019/02/05/zcash-vulnerability-cryptocurrency/
- github.com/JinBean/CVE-Extension
- z.cash/blog/zcash-counterfeiting-vulnerability-successfully-remediated/
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.