CVE-2026-26315 Go Ethereum Improperly Validates the ECIES Public Key in RLPx Handshake

What is CVE-2026-26315?

CVE-2026-26315 is a medium-severity vulnerability in go-ethereum, published on 19 Feb 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

go-ethereum (Geth) is a golang execution layer implementation of the Ethereum protocol. Prior to version 1.16.9, through a flaw in the ECIES cryptography implementation, an attacker may be able to extract bits of the p2p node key. The issue is resolved in the v1.16.9 and v1.17.0 releases of Geth. Geth maintainers recommend rotating the node key after applying the upgrade, which can be done by removing the file `<datadir>/geth/nodekey` before starting Geth.

Weakness: CWE-203

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-26315?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum. It affects 1 product.

Products include Ethereum Go Ethereum.

How do I fix CVE-2026-26315?

Upgrade github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum to 1.16.9 or later.

Is CVE-2026-26315 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-26315 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in go-ethereum

• CVE-2026-26314 Go Ethereum affected by DoS via malicious p2p message High 8.7
• CVE-2023-42319 go-ethereum vulnerable to denial of service via crafted GraphQL query High 7.5
• CVE-2023-40591 Denial of service via malicious p2p message in go-ethereum High 7.5
• CVE-2021-42219 Denial of service in go-ethereum High 7.5
• CVE-2022-23327 Denial of Service in Go-Ethereum High 7.5

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-m6j8-rg6r-7mv8, GO-2026-4511.