GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw is a low-severity (CVSS 3.8) CWE-549 vulnerability in sudo-rs. A fix is available for sudo-rs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
sudo-rs: Partial password reveal is possible after timeout
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw.
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.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
sudo-rsReal-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
Summary
If a user begins entering a password but does not press return for an extended period, a password timeout may occur. When this happens, the keystrokes that were entered are echoed back to the console.
Example
Using sudo-rs:
geiger@cerberus:~$ sudo -s
[sudo: authenticate] Password: sudo-rs: timed out
geiger@cerberus:~$ testtesttest
"testtesttest" was entered at the password prompt but not confirmed by pressing return and then waiting for the timeout.
Impact
This could reveal partial password information, possibly exposing history files when not carefully handled by the user and on screen, usable for Social Engineering or Pass-By attacks.
Versions affected
Passwords timeouts were added in sudo-rs 0.2.7 (with a default set to 5 minutes).
Credits
This issue was discovered and reported by @DevLaTron.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | sudo-rs | ≥ 0.2.7&&< 0.2.10 | 0.2.10cargo update -p sudo-rs --precise 0.2.10 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for sudo-rs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update sudo-rs to 0.2.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw 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-c978-wq47-pvvw can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-c978-wq47-pvvw across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.