CVE-2020-25575 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-843 vulnerability in failure. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
Type confusion if __private_get_type_id__ is overriden
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2020-25575.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
failureReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An issue was discovered in the failure crate through 0.1.5 for Rust. It may introduce "compatibility hazards" in some applications, and has a type confusion flaw when downcasting. NOTE: This vulnerability only affects products that are no longer supported by the maintainer. NOTE: This may overlap CVE-2019-25010
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | failure | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
failurefailure_projectResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for failure, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of failure for CVE-2020-25575. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-25575 in your dependencies?
Find it across crates.io, including transitive dependencies.