CVE-2025-48886 hydra-node dangerously assumes L1 event finality and does not consider failed transactions
Hydra node incorrectly assumes L1 event finality, allowing re-org attacks to manipulate state progression and bypass transaction validation.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2025-48886?
CVE-2025-48886 is a medium-severity vulnerability in cardano-scaling hydra, published on 19 Jun 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Hydra is a layer-two scalability solution for Cardano. Prior to version 0.22.0, the process assumes L1 event finality and does not consider failed transactions. Currently, Cardano L1 is monitored for certain events which are necessary for state progression. At the moment, Hydra considers those events as finalized as soon as they are recognized by the node participants making such transactions the target of re-org attacks. The system does not currently consider the fact that failed transactions on the Cardano L1 can indeed appear in blocks because these transactions are so infrequent. This issue has been patched in version 0.22.0.
Weakness: CWE-755
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-48886?
How do I fix CVE-2025-48886?
No fix has been published for CVE-2025-48886 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2025-48886 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-48886 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-qr9f-mpgf-wp25.