Nicotine+ DoS on Null Character in Download RequestGHSA-p4v2-r99v-wjc2
HIGHFix: nicotine-plus/nicotine-plus@0e3e2faGHSA-p4v2-r99v-wjc2 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-116 vulnerability in nicotine-plus. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nicotine-plus — see the affected versions and patch details below.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-p4v2-r99v-wjc2 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
nicotine-plusReal-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
Denial of service (DoS) vulnerability in Nicotine+ starting with version 3.0.3 and prior to version 3.2.1 allows a user with a modified Soulseek client to crash Nicotine+ by sending a file download request with a file path containing a null character.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nicotine-plus | ≥ 3.0.3&&< 3.2.1 | 3.2.1pip install --upgrade 'nicotine-plus==3.2.1' |
Affected Products
fedorafedoraprojectnicotine\+nicotine-plusResearch 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 nicotine-plus, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nicotine-plus to 3.2.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-p4v2-r99v-wjc2 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-p4v2-r99v-wjc2 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.