GHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 — crypto
MEDIUMGHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) Insufficient Random Values vulnerability in golang.org/x/crypto. A fix is available for golang.org/x/crypto — see the affected versions and patch details below.
golang.org/x/crypto/salsa20/salsa uses insufficiently random values
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-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 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 377,166 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
golang.org/x/cryptoReal-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
An issue was discovered in supplementary Go cryptography libraries, aka golang-googlecode-go-crypto, before 2019-03-20. A flaw was found in the amd64 implementation of golang.org/x/crypto/salsa20 and golang.org/x/crypto/salsa20/salsa. If more than 256 GiB of keystream is generated, or if the counter otherwise grows greater than 32 bits, the amd64 implementation will first generate incorrect output, and then cycle back to previously generated keystream. Repeated keystream bytes can lead to loss of confidentiality in encryption applications, or to predictability in CSPRNG applications.
Specific Go Packages Affected
golang.org/x/crypto/salsa20/salsa
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | golang.org/x/crypto | all versions | 0.0.0-20190320223903-b7391e95e576go get golang.org/x/crypto@v0.0.0-20190320223903-b7391e95e576 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for golang.org/x/crypto, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update golang.org/x/crypto to 0.0.0-20190320223903-b7391e95e576 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 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-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7. 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 OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 | atomic-enterprise-service-catalog-1:3.11.374-1.git.1675.738abcc.el7 | RHSA-2021:0079 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 | openshift4/ose-hyperkube:v4.3.0-202001211731 | RHBA-2020:0062 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 | openshift-0:4.3.0-202001131753.git.0.0aee6a8.el7 | RHBA-2020:0063 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-r5c5-pr8j-pfp7 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.