How severe is GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr has a CVSS score of 6.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr affects the following packages: github.com/ubuntu/authd (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

Update github.com/ubuntu/authd to 0.5.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/ubuntu/authd. 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.

How do I mitigate GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.3%, placing it in the 16th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr?

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr was published on June 16, 2025 and was last updated on July 28, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹 Go

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr

MEDIUM

New authd users logging in via SSH are members of the root group

Also known asCVE-2025-5689GO-2025-3762

Published

Jun 16, 2025

Updated

Jul 28, 2025

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk16th percentile+0.18%

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

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/ubuntu/authd

Real-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

Impact

When an authd user logs in via SSH for the first time (meaning they do not yet exist in the authd user database) and successfully authenticates via the configured broker, the user is considered a member of the root group in the context of that SSH session. This situation may allow the user to read and write files that are accessible by the root group, to which they should not have access. The user does not get root privileges or any capabilities beyond the access granted to the root group.

Preconditions under which this vulnerability affects a system

authd was installed via the PPA.
An OAuth 2.0 application was registered in Microsoft Entra ID or Google IAM, and the respective authd broker was installed (authd-msentraid or authd-google) and configured.
sshd was configured to enable SSH access with authd, i.e.:
```
UsePAM yes
KbdInteractiveAuthentication yes
```
The username is allowed by the ssh_allowed_suffixes option in the broker configuriation.
The user is allowed by the allowed_users option in the broker configuration.
The user successfully authenticates via the authd broker (Entra ID or Google IAM).
The user did not log in locally before.

Patches

Fixed by https://github.com/ubuntu/authd/commit/619ce8e55953b970f1765ddaad565081538151ab

Workarounds

Configure the SSH server to not allow authenticating via authd, for example by setting UsePAM no or KbdInteractiveAuthentication no in the sshd_config (see https://documentation.ubuntu.com/authd/stable/howto/login-ssh/#ssh-configuration).

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/ubuntu/authd`	all versions	0.5.4

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/ubuntu/authd. 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 github.com/ubuntu/authd to 0.5.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr 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-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr 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-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact When an authd user logs in via SSH for the first time (meaning they do not yet exist in the authd user database) and successfully authenticates via the configured broker, the user is considered a member of the root group in the context of that SSH session. This situation may allow the user to read and write files that are accessible by the root group, to which they should not have access. The user does not get root privileges or any capabilities beyond the access granted to the root group. **Preconditions under which this vulnerability affects a system** * authd was [installed via

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr

EPSS Exploitation Probability

Blast Radius

Description

Impact

Patches

Workarounds

Affected Packages

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

How O3 protects you

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GHSA-g8qw-mgjx-rwjr in your dependencies?