Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

8.7 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2020-5232: 1.18% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 67.77 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact A user who owns an ENS domain can set a "trapdoor", allowing them to transfer ownership to another user, and later regain ownership without the new owner's consent or awareness. Patches A new ENS deployment is being rolled out that fixes this vulnerability in the ENS registry. The registry is newly deployed at 0x00000000000C2E074eC69A0dFb2997BA6C7d2e1e. Workarounds Do not accept transfers of ENS domains from other users on the old registrar.

Published by the source

30 Jan 2020, 23:55 UTC

Last modified by the source

10 Sep 2026, 03:48 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:17 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2020-5232

Advisory: Malicious takeover of previously owned ENS names
IDs: CVE-2020-5232, GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2020-5232 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:17 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.7)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: @ensdomains/ens 0.4.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm @ensdomains/ens: affected < 0.4.0; fixed in 0.4.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls @ensdomains/ens --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on @ensdomains/ens.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h (OSV record GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h lists affected ranges: npm @ensdomains/ens >=0 <0.4.0 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-8f9f-pc5v-9r5h lists affected ranges: npm @ensdomains/ens >=0 <0.4.0)

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