GHSA-f56g-chqp-22m9
MEDIUMUse after free in libpulse-binding
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.
Blast Radius
libpulse-bindingReal-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
Overview
Version 2.5.0 of the libpulse-binding Rust crate, released on the 22nd of December 2018, fixed a potential use-after-free issue with property list iteration due to a lack of a lifetime constraint tying the lifetime of a proplist::Iterator to the Proplist object for which it was created. This made it possible for users, without experiencing a compiler error/warning, to destroy the Proplist object before the iterator, thus destroying the underlying C object the iterator works upon, before the iterator may be finished with it.
This advisory is being written retrospectively, having previously only been noted in the changelog. No CVE assignment was sought.
This impacts all versions of the crate before 2.5.0 back to 1.0.5. Before version 1.0.5 the function that produces the iterator was broken to the point of being useless.
Patches
Users are required to update to version 2.5.0 or newer.
Versions older than 2.5.0 have been yanked from crates.io as of the 22nd of October 2020.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | libpulse-binding | ≥ 1.0.5&&< 2.5.0 | 2.5.0 |
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 libpulse-binding. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update libpulse-binding to 2.5.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-f56g-chqp-22m9 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-f56g-chqp-22m9 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-f56g-chqp-22m9. 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-f56g-chqp-22m9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-f56g-chqp-22m9 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.