PYSEC-2026-2029
Vulnerability from pysec - Published: 2026-07-07 16:02 - Updated: 2026-07-07 17:25Impact
concat() may skip evaluation of side effects when the length of an argument is zero. this is due to a fastpath in the implementation which skips evaluation of argument expressions when their length is zero:
https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/68b68c4b30c5ef2f312b4674676170b8a6eaa316/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L560-L562
in practice, it would be very unusual in user code to construct zero-length bytestrings using an expression with side-effects, since zero-length bytestrings are typically constructed with the empty literal b""; the only way to construct an empty bytestring which has side effects would be with the ternary operator introduced in v0.3.8, e.g. b"" if self.do_some_side_effect() else b"".
the following example demonstrates how the issue would look in user code
counter: public(uint256)
@external
def test() -> Bytes[256]:
a: Bytes[256] = concat(b"" if self.sideeffect() else b"", b"aaaa")
return a
def sideeffect() -> bool:
self.counter += 1
return True
the severity assigned is low, since, as mentioned, this would be a very unusual pattern in user-code.
Patches
fix is tracked in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/4644
Workarounds
don't have side effects in expressions which construct zero-length bytestrings.
References
Are there any links users can visit to find out more?
| Name | purl | vyper | pkg:pypi/vyper |
|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "PyPI",
"name": "vyper",
"purl": "pkg:pypi/vyper"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "0.4.2rc1"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
],
"versions": [
"0.1.0b1",
"0.1.0b10",
"0.1.0b11",
"0.1.0b12",
"0.1.0b13",
"0.1.0b14",
"0.1.0b15",
"0.1.0b16",
"0.1.0b17",
"0.1.0b2",
"0.1.0b3",
"0.1.0b4",
"0.1.0b5",
"0.1.0b6",
"0.1.0b7",
"0.1.0b8",
"0.1.0b9",
"0.2.1",
"0.2.10",
"0.2.11",
"0.2.12",
"0.2.13",
"0.2.14",
"0.2.15",
"0.2.16",
"0.2.2",
"0.2.3",
"0.2.4",
"0.2.5",
"0.2.6",
"0.2.7",
"0.2.8",
"0.2.9",
"0.3.0",
"0.3.1",
"0.3.10",
"0.3.10rc1",
"0.3.10rc2",
"0.3.10rc3",
"0.3.10rc4",
"0.3.10rc5",
"0.3.2",
"0.3.3",
"0.3.4",
"0.3.5",
"0.3.6",
"0.3.7",
"0.3.8",
"0.3.9",
"0.4.0",
"0.4.0b1",
"0.4.0b2",
"0.4.0b3",
"0.4.0b4",
"0.4.0b5",
"0.4.0b6",
"0.4.0rc1",
"0.4.0rc2",
"0.4.0rc3",
"0.4.0rc4",
"0.4.0rc5",
"0.4.0rc6",
"0.4.1",
"0.4.1b1",
"0.4.1b2",
"0.4.1b3",
"0.4.1b4",
"0.4.1rc1",
"0.4.1rc2",
"0.4.1rc3",
"0.4.2rc1"
]
}
],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2025-47285",
"GHSA-qhr6-mgqr-mchm"
],
"details": "### Impact\n`concat()` may skip evaluation of side effects when the length of an argument is zero. this is due to a fastpath in the implementation which skips evaluation of argument expressions when their length is zero:\nhttps://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/68b68c4b30c5ef2f312b4674676170b8a6eaa316/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L560-L562\n\nin practice, it would be very unusual in user code to construct zero-length bytestrings using an expression with side-effects, since zero-length bytestrings are typically constructed with the empty literal `b\"\"`; the only way to construct an empty bytestring which has side effects would be with the ternary operator introduced in v0.3.8, e.g. `b\"\" if self.do_some_side_effect() else b\"\"`.\n\nthe following example demonstrates how the issue would look in user code\n```vyper\ncounter: public(uint256)\n\n@external\ndef test() -\u003e Bytes[256]:\n a: Bytes[256] = concat(b\"\" if self.sideeffect() else b\"\", b\"aaaa\")\n return a\n\ndef sideeffect() -\u003e bool:\n self.counter += 1\n return True\n```\n\nthe severity assigned is low, since, as mentioned, this would be a very unusual pattern in user-code.\n\n### Patches\n\nfix is tracked in https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/4644\n\n### Workarounds\ndon\u0027t have side effects in expressions which construct zero-length bytestrings.\n\n### References\n_Are there any links users can visit to find out more?_",
"id": "PYSEC-2026-2029",
"modified": "2026-07-07T17:25:48.775867Z",
"published": "2026-07-07T16:02:52.484672Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/security/advisories/GHSA-qhr6-mgqr-mchm"
},
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-47285"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/pull/4644"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/vyperlang/vyper/blob/68b68c4b30c5ef2f312b4674676170b8a6eaa316/vyper/builtins/functions.py#L560-L562"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://pypi.org/project/vyper"
},
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-qhr6-mgqr-mchm"
}
],
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P",
"type": "CVSS_V4"
}
],
"summary": "Vyper\u0027s `concat()` builtin may elide side-effects for zero-length arguments"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.