# CVE-2022-40769: Weak cryptography in n/a

> Attackers can recover private keys from Ethereum vanity addresses due to weak RNG initialization, allowing theft of cryptocurrency.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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:** 18 Sep 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9q2f-7hm7-62h6

## What is CVE-2022-40769?

CVE-2022-40769 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Sep 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

profanity through 1.60 has only four billion possible RNG initializations. Thus, attackers can recover private keys from Ethereum vanity addresses and steal cryptocurrency, as exploited in the wild in June 2022.

Weakness: CWE-338 (Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG))

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-40769?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Profanity Project Profanity.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-40769?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-40769 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-40769 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-40769 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- profanity through 1.60 has only four billion possible RNG initializations. Thus, attackers can recover private keys from Ethereum vanity addresses and steal cryptocurrency, as exploited in the wild in June 2022. CVE project by @Sn0wAlice (github_poc): https://github.com/PLSRcoin/CVE-2022-40769
- Provable check for CVE-2022-40769: does an EOA's private key lie in the Profanity-reachable key space? (github_poc): https://github.com/artsbykriss/profanity-verifier

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2017-5592](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5592/): Other in n/a (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-40769 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-40769 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Sep 2022. 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-2022-40769 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-2022-40769/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-40769/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-40769
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-40769
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-40769

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-40769/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.