CVE-2020-26235
MEDIUMCVE-2020-26235 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in time. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-26235 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Segmentation fault in time
Real-World Exposure
time🦀timeReal-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
In Rust time crate from version 0.2.7 and before version 0.2.23, unix-like operating systems may segfault due to dereferencing a dangling pointer in specific circumstances. This requires the user to set any environment variable in a different thread than the affected functions. The affected functions are time::UtcOffset::local_offset_at, time::UtcOffset::try_local_offset_at, time::UtcOffset::current_local_offset, time::UtcOffset::try_current_local_offset, time::OffsetDateTime::now_local and time::OffsetDateTime::try_now_local. Non-Unix targets are unaffected. This includes Windows and wasm. The issue was introduced in version 0.2.7 and fixed in version 0.2.23.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | time | ≥ 0.1.0&&< 0.2.23 | 0.2.23 |
| 🦀crates.io | time | ≥ 0.2.7&&< 0.2.23 | 0.2.23 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for time. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update time to 0.2.23 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-26235 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-26235 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-26235. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-26235 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-26235 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.