# CVE-2026-35468: nimiq/core-rs-albatross: Panic in history index request handlers when a full node runs without the history index


- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 6 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xr78-2jhh-9wf9

## What is CVE-2026-35468?

CVE-2026-35468 is a medium-severity vulnerability in nimiq core-rs-albatross, published on 3 Apr 2026. 

### Official description

nimiq/core-rs-albatross is a Rust implementation of the Nimiq Proof-of-Stake protocol based on the Albatross consensus algorithm. Prior to version 1.3.0, two peer-facing consensus request handlers assume that the history index is always available and call blockchain.history_store.history_index().unwrap() directly. That assumption is false by construction. HistoryStoreProxy::history_index() explicitly returns None for the valid HistoryStoreProxy::WithoutIndex state. when a full node is syncing or otherwise running without the history index, a remote peer can send RequestTransactionsProof or RequestTransactionReceiptsByAddress and trigger an Option::unwrap() panic on the request path. This issue has been patched in version 1.3.0.

Weakness: CWE-252 (Unchecked Return Value)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-35468?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nimiq Nimiq Proof-of-Stake.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-35468?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-35468 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-35468 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-35468 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in nimiq core-rs-albatross

- [CVE-2026-33471](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33471/): nimiq-block has skip block quorum bypass via out-of-range BitSet indices & u16 truncation (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2026-40093](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40093/): nimiq-blockchain is missing a wall-clock upper bound on block timestamps (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-34063](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-34063/): network-libp2p: Peer can crash the node by opening discovery protocol substream twice (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-34065](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-34065/): nimiq-primitives: Node crash due to missing interlink validation in election macro block proposals (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-32605](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-32605/): Nimiq: Remote crash via off-by-one signer bounds check in proposal buffer (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-35468 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-35468 is a medium-severity vulnerability in nimiq core-rs-albatross, published on 3 Apr 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-35468 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: nimiq core-rs-albatross. 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-2026-35468/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-35468/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-35468
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35468
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-35468

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-35468/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.