# CVE-2021-25837: Business logic in n/a

> Attackers can exploit cache lifecycle inconsistencies in Ethermint to improperly reserve storage changes from failed transactions, enabling arbitrary token minting.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024

## What is CVE-2021-25837?

CVE-2021-25837 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Cosmos Network Ethermint <= v0.4.0 is affected by cache lifecycle inconsistency in the EVM module. Due to the inconsistency between the Storage caching cycle and the Tx processing cycle, Storage changes caused by a failed transaction are improperly reserved in memory. Although the bad storage cache data will be discarded at EndBlock, it is still valid in the current block, which enables many possible attacks such as an "arbitrary mint token".

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-25837?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Chainsafe Ethermint.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-25837?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-25837 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-25837 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25837 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- https://github.com/iczc/Ethermint-CVE-2021-25837 (github_poc): https://github.com/iczc/Ethermint-CVE-2021-25837

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2021-25834](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25834/): Authentication bypass by capture-replay in github.com/cosmos/ethermint (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-25835](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25835/): Authentication bypass by capture-replay in github.com/cosmos/ethermint (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-25836](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25836/): Business logic in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-25837 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-25837 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 8 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-25837 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25837/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25837/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-25837
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25837
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-25837

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-25837/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.