Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls
Impact
Internal calls to internal functions with more than 1 default argument are compiled incorrectly. Depending on the number of arguments
provided in the call, the defaults are added not right-to-left, but left-to-right. If the types are incompatible,
typechecking is bypassed. In the bar() function in the following code, self.foo(13) is compiled to
self.foo(13,12) instead of self.foo(13,1337).
@internal
def foo(a:uint256 = 12, b:uint256 = 1337):
pass
@internal
def bar():
self.foo(13)
note that at the time of publication, the ability to pass kwargs to internal functions is an undocumented feature that does not seem to be widely used.
Patches
patched in c3e68c302aa6e1429946473769dd1232145822ac
Workarounds
Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?
References
Are there any links users can visit to find out more?
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | vyper | < 0.3.8 | 0.3.8 |
References
- https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/commit/c3e68c302aa6e1429946473769dd1232145822ac
- https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/security/advisories/GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-32059
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/vyper/PYSEC-2023-79.yaml
- https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-683- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
vyper- Disclosed
- 11.05.2023
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 15:17
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2023-79 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-ph9x-4vc9-m39g - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: vyper
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 47
- First → latest
- 03.2020 10.2026
- Without a fix
- 5
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 3
- High 14
- Medium 20
- Low 10
Disclosures per year
- 2020: 1
- 2021: 5
- 2022: 4
- 2023: 14
- 2024: 14
- 2025: 6
- 2026: 3
-
Vyper vulnerable to incorrect ordering of arguments for kwargs passed to internal calls this entry
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