Description
The guard checker in Rocq Prover does not follow recursive calls made through a fixpoint's own arguments. A fixpoint may pass itself as a higher-order argument to a second fixpoint, which then applies it to a value that is not a subterm of the structural argument. Passing the recursive function to a plain definition is rejected because the checker unfolds the definition and observes the call, but passing it to a fixpoint is accepted because higher-order recursive calls through fixpoint arguments are not tracked. This admits a type that is definitionally equal to its own negation, so self-application produces False in purely definitional code, without tactics, axioms, plugins or unsafe flags, and Print Assumptions reports the result as closed under the global context. Fixed in Rocq 9.2.0.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| rocq-prover | rocq | < 9.2.0 | 9.2.0 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
GitHub 1 repository
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endrazine/rocq-cve-poc-21683 ★ 0 · Aug 23, 2026
CVE-2026-72705 — Rocq Guard Checker Accepts Fixpoint Passed as Higher-Order Argument
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
References
- https://github.com/rocq-prover/rocq product
- https://github.com/rocq-prover/rocq/issues/21683 issue-tracking
- https://github.com/rocq-prover/rocq/pull/21684 issue-tracking patch
- https://github.com/endrazine/rocq-cve-poc-21683 exploit
- VulnCheck Advisory: Rocq Prover before 9.2.0 Guard Checker Accepts Fixpoint Passed as a Higher-Order Argument third-party-advisory