How severe is CVE-2020-8945?

CVE-2020-8945 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-8945?

CVE-2020-8945 affects the following packages: github.com/proglottis/gpgme (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2020-8945?

Update github.com/proglottis/gpgme to 0.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-8945 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-8945 in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/proglottis/gpgme, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-8945 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Is CVE-2020-8945 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2020-8945, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-8945?

CVE-2020-8945 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 5.1%, placing it in the 92th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-8945?

CVE-2020-8945 is classified as Use After Free (CWE-416). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-8945 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-8945 was published on February 12, 2020 and was last updated on July 8, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2020-8945 — gpgme

HIGHFix: containers/image@4c7a23f

CVE-2020-8945 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Use After Free vulnerability in github.com/proglottis/gpgme. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/proglottis/gpgme — see the affected versions and patch details below.

GPGME Go wrapper contains Use After Free

Also known asGHSA-m6wg-2mwg-4rfqGO-2021-0096

Published

Feb 12, 2020

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

5.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs92th percentile — riskier than 92% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-8945 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/proglottis/gpgme

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

The proglottis Go wrapper before 0.1.1 for the GPGME library has a use-after-free, as demonstrated by use for container image pulls by Docker or CRI-O. This leads to a crash or potential code execution during GPG signature verification.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/proglottis/gpgme`	all versions	0.1.1`go get github.com/proglottis/gpgme@v0.1.1`

Affected Products

9 products · 19 configurations

fedorafedoraproject

3 versions

303132

Application

gpgmegpgme_project

< 0.1.1

range

enterprise linux for ibm z systemsredhat

1 version

7.0

enterprise linux for power little endianredhat

1 version

7.0

enterprise linux serverredhat

1 version

7.0

enterprise linux workstationredhat

1 version

7.0

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

The proglottis Go wrapper before 0.1.1 for the GPGME library has a use-a…

github.comNVDJul 2020

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/proglottis/gpgme, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/proglottis/gpgme to 0.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-8945 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop feeding it untrusted input: reject or quarantine files and payloads from unverified sources until you can upgrade, restrict accepted formats to the ones you actually need, and run the parsing or decoding step in a least-privileged sandbox or short-lived worker so a crash or corrupted read cannot reach the rest of the process.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatModerate

OpenShift 3.11 consumes updates for podman from the RHEL-7 extras channel, hence why it has been marked as wontfix in this instance. After extensive testing of the mentioned vulnerability Red Hat has chosen a severity of Moderate instead of High, because the deallocation of GPGME objects while other parts of code are…

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras	`skopeo-1:0.1.40-7.el7_8`	RHSA-2020:1230
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras	`buildah-0:1.11.6-8.el7_8`	RHSA-2020:1231
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras	`docker-2:1.13.1-161.git64e9980.el7_8`	RHSA-2020:1234
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras	`podman-0:1.6.4-18.el7_8`	RHSA-2020:2117
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11	`atomic-openshift-0:3.11.248-1.git.0.92ee8ac.el7`	RHSA-2020:2992
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.1	`skopeo-1:0.1.32-6.git1715c90.el8_0`	RHSA-2020:0697
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.2	`openshift4/ose-docker-builder:v4.2.28-202004061218`	RHSA-2020:1402
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.2	`openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel7:v4.2.34-202005252115`	RHSA-2020:3167

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-8945 in your dependencies?

Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.5/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

High

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-416Use After Free

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

gpgme

3.1/10

Code-Review3/10

Maintained0/10

Branch-Protection0/10

Assessed Oct 5, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Feb 12, 2020

First exploit

Jul 24, 2020

Last updated

Jul 8, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2020-8945

GHSA-m6wg-2mwg-4rfq

GO-2021-0096

References

Advisoryaccess.redhat.com Advisoryaccess.redhat.com Advisoryaccess.redhat.com Advisorynvd.nist.gov Fixbugzilla.redhat.com Fixgithub.com Fixgithub.com Fixgithub.com Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Webgithub.com Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Weblists.fedoraproject.org Webpkg.go.dev Packagegithub.com

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is high severity; 3 of 8 other CVEs with CWE-416 are rated as high or higher (top: critical).

CVE-2026-62815CVE-2026-55406GHSA-mc9m-6fm9-pghcCVE-2026-62898CVE-2026-71847CVE-2026-69244CVE-2026-54522CVE-2026-54619Browse all CWE-416

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedJul 8, 2026

CVE-2020-8945 — gpgme

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

Fixing This On Your OS

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2020-8945 in your dependencies?