xkeys seal encryption used fixed key for all encryption

Exploitation

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

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2023-46129: 0.45% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 38.81 (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.

Background NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. The cryptographic key handling library, nkeys, recently gained support for encryption, not just for signing/authentication. This is used in nats-server 2.10 (Sep 2023) and newer for authentication callouts. Problem Description The nkeys library's "xkeys" encryption handling logic mistakenly passed an array by value into an internal function, where the function mutated that buffer to populate the encryption key to use. As a result, all encryption was actually to an all-zeros key. This affects encryption only, not signing. FIXME: FILL IN IMPACT ON NATS-SERVER AUTH CALLOUT SECURITY. Affected versions nkeys Go library: 0.4.0 up to and including 0.4.5 Fixed with nats-io/nkeys: 0.4.6 NATS Server: 2.10.0 up to and including 2.10.3 Fixed with nats-io/nats-server: 2.10.4 Solution Upgrade the nats-server. For any application handling auth…

Published by the source

31 Oct 2023, 21:19 UTC

Last modified by the source

7 Dec 2023, 05:06 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-46129

Advisory: xkeys seal encryption used fixed key for all encryption
IDs: CVE-2023-46129, GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-46129 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/nats-io/nkeys 0.4.6; github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 2.10.4. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/nats-io/nkeys: affected >= 0.4.0, <= 0.4.5; fixed in 0.4.6
- Go github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2: affected >= 2.10.0, <= 2.10.3; fixed in 2.10.4

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/nats-io/nkeys: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Go github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2: check the installed version with your package manager.

## 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 github.com/nats-io/nkeys, github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2.
- 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://github.com/advisories/GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-mr45-rx8q-wcm9 lists affected ranges: Go github.com/nats-io/nkeys >=0.4.0 =2.10.0 <=2.10.3)

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