GHSA-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w
Use 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 1.2.1 of the libpulse-binding Rust crate, released on the 15th of June 2018, fixed a pair of use-after-free issues with the objects returned by the get_format_info and get_context methods of Stream objects. These objects were mistakenly being constructed without setting an important flag to prevent destruction of the underlying C objects they reference upon their own destruction.
This advisory is being written retrospectively, having previously only been noted in the changelog. No CVE assignment was sought.
Patches
Users are required to update to version 1.2.1 or newer.
Versions older than 1.2.1 have been yanked from crates.io. This was believed to have already been done at the time of the 1.2.1 release, but upon double checking now they were found to still be available, so has been done now (22nd October 2020).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | libpulse-binding | all versions | 1.2.1 |
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 1.2.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w 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-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w 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-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w. 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-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-ghpq-vjxw-ch5w 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.