mapstructure May Leak Sensitive Information in Logs When Processing Malformed DataGHSA-fv92-fjc5-jj9h
MEDIUMGHSA-fv92-fjc5-jj9h is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) vulnerability in github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2. A fix is available for github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
Use of this library in a security-critical context may result in leaking sensitive information, if used to process sensitive fields.
Details
OpenBao (and presumably HashiCorp Vault) have surfaced error messages from mapstructure as follows:
_, _, err := d.getPrimitive(field, schema)
if err != nil {
return fmt.Errorf("error converting input for field %q: %w", field, err)
}
where this calls mapstructure.WeakDecode(...): https://github.com/openbao/openbao/blob/98c3a59c040efca724353ca46ca79bd5cdbab920/sdk/framework/field_data.go#L181-L193
func (d *FieldData) getPrimitive(k string, schema *FieldSchema) (interface{}, bool, error) {
raw, ok := d.Raw[k]
if !ok {
return nil, false, nil
}
switch t := schema.Type; t {
case TypeBool:
var result bool
if err := mapstructure.WeakDecode(raw, &result); err != nil {
return nil, false, err
}
return result, true, nil
Notably, WeakDecode(...) eventually calls one of the decode helpers, which surfaces the original value:
& more.
PoC
To reproduce with OpenBao:
$ podman run -p 8300:8300 openbao/openbao:latest server -dev -dev-root-token-id=root -dev-listen-address=0.0.0.0:8300
and in a new tab:
$ BAO_TOKEN=root BAO_ADDR=http://localhost:8300 bao auth enable userpass
Success! Enabled userpass auth method at: userpass/
$ curl -X PUT -H "X-Vault-Request: true" -H "X-Vault-Token: root" -d '{"password":{"asdf":"my-sensitive-value"}}' "http://localhost:8300/v1/auth/userpass/users/adsf"
{"errors":["error converting input for field \"password\": '' expected type 'string', got unconvertible type 'map[string]interface {}', value: 'map[asdf:my-sensitive-value]'"]}
Impact
This is an information disclosure bug with little mitigation. See https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2025-09-vault-may-expose-sensitive-information-in-error-logs-when-processing-malformed-data-with-the-kv-v2-plugin/74717 for a previous version. That version was fixed, but this is in the second part of that error message (starting at '' expected a map, got 'string' -- when the field type is string and a map is provided, we see the above information leak -- the previous example had a map type field with a string value provided).
This was rated 4.5 Medium by HashiCorp in the past iteration.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2 | all versions | 2.3.0go get github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2@v2.3.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2 to 2.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-fv92-fjc5-jj9h is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-fv92-fjc5-jj9h in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.