How severe is GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6?

No CVSS score has been assigned to GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6?

GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 affects the following packages: tuf (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6?

Update tuf to 3.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 in my PyPI dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 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-77hh-43cm-v8j6 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 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-77hh-43cm-v8j6 published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 was published on February 16, 2024. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

tuf's Metadata API: Targets.get_delegated_role() is missing input validationGHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6

Fix: theupdateframework/python-tuf@77cb66b

GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 is a security vulnerability in tuf. A fix is available for tuf — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Published

Feb 16, 2024

Updated

Feb 16, 2024

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Feb 16, 2024 · OSV.dev, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐍tuf

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

Description

tuf.api.metadata.Targets.get_delegated_role() should ensure that the given delegated_rolename is actually a name of a role that is delegated by that Targets, but in the case of "succinct delegation" this does not happen.

tuf.ngclient users are not impacted but direct users of tuf.api.metadata could be impacted.

Impact

If an attacker can make a Metadata API user run Targets.get_delegated_role() so that

the Targets uses succinct delegation
the delegated_role argument is not actually delegated by the Targets

the result will be incorrect.

This also means that if an attacker can make a Metadata API user run Targets.verify_delegate() or Targets.get_verification_result() so that

the delegating Targets uses a succinct delegation
the delegated_role argument is the name of some unrelated Metadata
that other Metadata is correctly signed by the keys defined in the succinct delegation

the result would be a successful verification even though the Targets in question does not actually delegate to delegated_role.

The impact is estimated to be low for following reasons:

This cannot impact a TUF client that implements the client workflow as specified since the delegated role name is not an input but is collected from the (trusted) delegating Targets itself
Actual signature verification is not bypassed: The verified metadata must still be correctly signed by the keys specified in the delegating role.
The described situations are somewhat hypothetical: there does not seem to be any reason for a python-tuf user (whether client or a repository) to use tuf.api.metadata in this way.

All users of tuf.ngclient are specifically not impacted. Users of tuf.api.metadata could be impacted if they use succinct delegations in a way described above.

Patches

A fix is available in python-tuf 3.1.1 as commit 77cb66bc and in later releases as commit eb4834d9._

Workarounds

tuf.api.metadata users should only call Targets.get_delegated_role(), Targets.verify_delegate() or Targets.get_verification_result() with delegated_role argument that is known to be delegated by the Targets in question.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`tuf`	≥ 2.0.0&&< 3.1.1	3.1.1`pip install --upgrade 'tuf==3.1.1'`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tuf, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update tuf to 3.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-77hh-43cm-v8j6 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

The security of both a TUF client and repository implementations depend on the concept of trusted Metadata objects verifying the signatures over other Metadata that it delegates to. This verification process uses `Targets.get_delegated_role(delegated_role: str)` to find the delegation information. `tuf.api.metadata.Targets.get_delegated_role()` should ensure that the given `delegated_rolename` is actually a name of a role that is delegated by that Targets, but in the case of "succinct delegation" this does not happen. `tuf.ngclient` users are **not** impacted but direct users of `tuf.api.met

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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