GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 — facter
GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 is a CWE-17 vulnerability in facter. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for facter — see the affected versions and patch details below.
facter, hiera, mcollective-client, and puppet affected by untrusted search path vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Real-World Exposure
facter💎facter💎hiera💎puppet💎puppet💎mcollective-clientReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Untrusted search path vulnerability in Puppet Enterprise 2.8 before 2.8.7, Puppet before 2.7.26 and 3.x before 3.6.2, Facter 1.6.x and 2.x before 2.0.2, Hiera before 1.3.4, and Mcollective before 2.5.2, when running with Ruby 1.9.1 or earlier, allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse file in the current working directory, as demonstrated using (1) rubygems/defaults/operating_system.rb, (2) Win32API.rb, (3) Win32API.so, (4) safe_yaml.rb, (5) safe_yaml/deep.rb, or (6) safe_yaml/deep.so; or (7) operatingsystem.rb, (8) operatingsystem.so, (9) osfamily.rb, or (10) osfamily.so in puppet/confine.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | facter | all versions | 1.7.6bundle update facter --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | facter | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.2 | 2.0.2bundle update facter --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | hiera | all versions | 1.3.4bundle update hiera --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | puppet | all versions | 2.7.26bundle update puppet --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | puppet | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.6.2 | 3.6.2bundle update puppet --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | mcollective-client | all versions | 2.5.2bundle update mcollective-client --conservative |
Research 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 facter, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update facter to 1.7.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-92v7-pq4h-58j5 across RubyGems dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.