Fix hop payload bounds

[erickcestari]

The unwrapPacket function passes the full hopInfo buffer to DecodeHopPayload for parsing. However, this buffer contains both the actual routing information and zero-padding used for XOR decryption.
The routing info occupies the first portion of the buffer (determined by the routingInfoLen parameter), while the remainder is padding.

When a malformed packet contains an oversized payload length field, the decoder could read beyond the routing info boundary into the padding area.

This PR constrains DecodeHopPayload to read only from the routing info portion by slicing hopInfo to routingInfoLen bytes. This fix is compatible with both:

• HTLC onion packets (update_add_htlc): 1300-byte routing info
• Onion messages: variable size up to ~32KB routing info

The boundary is determined dynamically by the routingInfoLen parameter passed to unwrapPacket, so the fix works correctly regardless of the onion packet type being processed.

A malformed packet that attempts to read beyond its routing info boundary will now fail with an EOF error during payload decoding, rather than silently reading from the padding area.

Found through differential fuzzing (bitcoinfuzz) where Core Lightning and rust-lightning rejected the malformed onion packet.

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @erickcestari, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request introduces a critical fix to how onion packet payloads are processed, specifically preventing DecodeHopPayload from reading beyond the intended routing information boundary. Previously, a malformed packet could exploit this by specifying an oversized payload, causing the decoder to read into the zero-padding area. The change ensures that only the valid routing information portion of the hopInfo buffer is processed, enhancing parsing consistency and robustness against malformed inputs. Additionally, new tests have been added to validate this boundary enforcement, alongside minor test function name corrections.

Highlights

• Payload Boundary Enforcement: The unwrapPacket function now explicitly limits the hopInfo buffer passed to DecodeHopPayload to routingInfoLen (1300 bytes). This prevents the decoder from reading into the zero-padding area of the buffer, addressing a potential parsing inconsistency with malformed packets.
• New Test Case for Malformed Packets: A new test, TestUnwrapPacketBeyondRoutingInfoBoundary, has been added to verify that unwrapPacket correctly handles malformed onion packets where the payload size attempts to exceed the routing information boundary, ensuring it fails as expected.
• Test Function Renames: Several test functions in sphinx_test.go were renamed to correct a typo, changing 'Relpay' to 'Replay' (e.g., TestSphinxNodeRelpay is now TestSphinxNodeReplay).

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request addresses a potential vulnerability in unwrapPacket where a malformed packet could cause the decoder to read beyond the intended routing information boundary. The fix correctly restricts the data passed to DecodeHopPayload by slicing the buffer to the appropriate length. This is a solid and important correction. The addition of a specific test case, TestUnwrapPacketBeyondRoutingInfoBoundary, is excellent as it directly verifies the fix against the described vulnerability. I've also noted the correction of typos in other test function names. My review includes a couple of minor suggestions for the new test code to align with the repository's style guide concerning line length.

[morehouse]

Maybe we should also change DecodeHopPayload to enforce the correct size, rather than UINT16_MAX.

[erickcestari]

Maybe we should also change DecodeHopPayload to enforce the correct size, rather than UINT16_MAX.

Updated! DecodeHopPayload now validates that the payload size does not exceed MaxHopPayloadSize (1265 bytes) rather than allowing sizes up to UINT16_MAX.

I have created a new constant MaxHopPayloadSize which is defined as MaxRoutingPayloadSize - BigSizeLenMaxBytes - HMACSize, which accounts for the 3-byte BigSize length prefix and 32-byte HMAC within the 1300-byte routing info boundary. If the encoded payload size exceeds this limit, DecodeHopPayload returns ErrMaxHopPayloadSizeExceeded.

[Roasbeef]

A malformed packet with a large payload size field can cause the decoder to read beyond the routing info into the padding area. This creates parsing inconsistencies with other implementations that enforce the 1300-byte boundary.

IIUC it still results in the malformed packet being rejected? Or which inconsistencies are you referring to here?

[Roasbeef]

LGTM 📻

[Roasbeef]

👍

We should restrict to the actual length of the payload, rather than trusting the sender to accurately encode the length within the payload.

The MAC check of the next hop should fail, but then the HTLC fails one hop later than it should actually.

[gijswijs]

Not sure if I follow. That would require to already peak bytes from the payload, which is what is happening in DecodeHopPayload. Are you suggesting to lift that logic out of that func?

[Roasbeef]

What I mean was that before we assumed the length encoded and the actual length of the packet were the same thing. This PR fixes that.

[gijswijs]

sphinx_test_diff.txt
Onion messaging is throwing a spanner in the works. Onion messages allow for all kinds of payload sizes, also way bigger than 1300 bytes. As such this fix will not work. (See also my other comments for more details) I've created a diff file that I'll share here that updates one of the unit tests to make a huge payload that shouldn't err out but currently does because of the added check.

[gijswijs]

Not sure if I follow. That would require to already peak bytes from the payload, which is what is happening in DecodeHopPayload. Are you suggesting to lift that logic out of that func?

[erickcestari]

IIUC it still results in the malformed packet being rejected? Or which inconsistencies are you referring to here?

As you said, the packet would be forwarded to the next hop, where it would be rejected as invalid due to its invalid HMAC. This assumes that the packet has the required TLVs to be considered a forwarded packet. If it's a final-hop payload, it would fail locally because of the non-zero HMAC.

[gijswijs]

The fix doesn't require peeking or changing DecodeHopPayload. It simply limits the input reader:

Yeah, I understood that. My comment was on @Roasbeef earlier comment. Sorry for the confusion.

[gijswijs]

@erickcestari So with the current solution, a malformed packet could still look into the bytes of the 32-byte HMAC, correct?

[erickcestari]

The fix doesn't require peeking or changing DecodeHopPayload. It simply limits the input reader:

Yeah, I understood that. My comment was on @Roasbeef earlier comment. Sorry for the confusion.

Yes, I only saw it after I commented 😅.

@erickcestari So with the current solution, a malformed packet could still look into the bytes of the 32-byte HMAC, correct?

No. If a malformed payload tries to read into the HMAC area, the subsequent 32-byte HMAC read will fail with io.ErrUnexpectedEOF due to insufficient remaining bytes.

For example, with a 1300-byte boundary: if a payload claims 1280 bytes, after reading the 3-byte length prefix + 1280-byte payload, only 17 bytes remain. Not enough for the 32-byte HMAC read.

Am I missing something?