How severe is GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w?

No CVSS score has been assigned to GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w?

GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w affects the following packages: postgres-protocol (crates.io). Ecosystems affected: crates.io.

How do I fix GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w?

Update postgres-protocol to 0.6.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w in my crates.io dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

Is GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

When was GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w was published on August 24, 2026 and was last updated on September 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🦀 crates.io

Not in CISA KEV

postgres-protocol: Unbounded SCRAM iteration count allows a malicious server to cause CPU-exhaustion denial of serviceGHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w

Fix: rust-postgres/rust-postgres@d40097a

GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w is a security vulnerability in postgres-protocol. A fix is available for postgres-protocol — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Also known asRUSTSEC-2026-0179

Published

Aug 24, 2026

Updated

Sep 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

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

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🦀postgres-protocol

Real-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

Applications that connect only to a trusted database are not exposed; the risk applies to clients that may connect to untrusted or user-supplied servers, or whose connection can be intercepted by a man-in-the-middle.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🦀crates.io	`postgres-protocol`	≥ 0.3.0&&< 0.6.12	0.6.12`cargo update -p postgres-protocol --precise 0.6.12`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for postgres-protocol, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update postgres-protocol to 0.6.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5x78-73v4-xg6w 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

A malicious, compromised, or man-in-the-middle server can supply an arbitrarily large SCRAM-SHA-256 PBKDF2 iteration count during authentication. The client runs it inline with no upper bound, pinning a `tokio` worker thread for minutes per connection, possibly stalling the whole async runtime. Applications that connect only to a trusted database are not exposed; the risk applies to clients that may connect to untrusted or user-supplied servers, or whose connection can be intercepted by a man-in-the-middle.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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