GHSA-f8q4-jwww-x3wv is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-362 vulnerability in paramiko. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for paramiko — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Race Condition in Paramiko
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-f8q4-jwww-x3wv 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 379,145 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
paramiko🐍paramikoReal-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
In Paramiko before 2.10.1, a race condition (between creation and chmod) in the write_private_key_file function could allow unauthorized information disclosure.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | paramiko | ≥ 2.10.0&&< 2.10.1 | 2.10.1pip install --upgrade 'paramiko==2.10.1' |
| 🐍PyPI | paramiko | ≥ 2.9.0&&< 2.9.3 | 2.9.3pip install --upgrade 'paramiko==2.9.3' |
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 paramiko, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update paramiko to 2.10.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-f8q4-jwww-x3wv 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-f8q4-jwww-x3wv can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-f8q4-jwww-x3wv. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.1 | python-paramiko-0:2.4.2-8.el8ost | RHSA-2022:8863 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 | python-paramiko-0:2.4.2-8.el8ost | RHSA-2022:8845 |
| Red Hat Virtualization 4 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | python-paramiko-0:2.4.3-3.el8ev | RHSA-2022:4712 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-f8q4-jwww-x3wv in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-f8q4-jwww-x3wv across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.