CVE-2023-46129
HIGHDescription
NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. The cryptographic key handling library, nkeys, recently gained support for encryption, not just for signing/authentication. This is used in nats-server 2.10 (Sep 2023) and newer for authentication callouts. In nkeys versions 0.4.0 through 0.4.5, corresponding with NATS server versions 2.10.0 through 2.10.3, the nkeys library's `xkeys` encryption handling logic mistakenly passed an array by value into an internal function, where the function mutated that buffer to populate the encryption key to use. As a result, all encryption was actually to an all-zeros key. This affects encryption only, not signing. FIXME: FILL IN IMPACT ON NATS-SERVER AUTH CALLOUT SECURITY. nkeys Go library 0.4.6, corresponding with NATS Server 2.10.4, has a patch for this issue. No known workarounds are available. For any application handling auth callouts in Go, if using the nkeys library, update the dependency, recompile and deploy that in lockstep.
How to fix
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Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 29% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-321 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-30406 | Critical | 9.0 | 94% | KEV | Fix |
| CVE-2016-4437 | Critical | 9.8 | 93% | KEV | Fix |
| CVE-2023-32169 | Critical | 9.8 | 56% | - | - |
| CVE-2023-27584 | Critical | 9.8 | 34% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2020-10884 | High | 8.8 | 22% | - | - |
| CVE-2021-4228 | Medium | 5.8 | 9.9% | - | - |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2023-46129?
Upgrade golang-github-nats-io-nkeys on debian 13 to 0.4.6-1 or later.
Is CVE-2023-46129 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2023-46129 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 0.37% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 29% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2023-46129?
CVE-2023-46129 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2023-46129 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for golang-github-nats-io-nkeys (Debian). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-03-30.