GHSA-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.1) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/opentofu/opentofu. A fix is available for github.com/opentofu/opentofu — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenTofu has High CPU usage in "tofu init" with maliciously-crafted module packages in .zip format
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-r92c-9c7f-3pj8.
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-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 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 377,636 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
github.com/opentofu/opentofuReal-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
Unauthenticated denial of service.
Summary
When installing module packages from attacker-controlled sources, tofu init may cause high CPU usage when encountering maliciously-crafted .zip archives for either provider or module distribution packages.
Those who depend on modules or providers served from untrusted third-party servers may experience denial of service due to tofu init failing to complete in a timely manner. Other processes running on the same computer as OpenTofu may also have their performance degraded due to the high CPU usage.
These vulnerabilities do not permit arbitrary code execution or allow disclosure of confidential information.
Details
OpenTofu relies on a third-party implementation of .zip archive extraction from the standard library of the Go programming language. The Go project has recently published a minor release (Go 1.25.6) to address a problem of potential excessive CPU usage when accessing files in a maliciously-crafted .zip archive.
OpenTofu's threat model considers module and package dependencies to be arbitrary third-party code that operators must carefully review after installation. However, this particular problem affects the process of installing these dependencies with tofu init, and so can potentially occur before an operator has had the opportunity to review what is being installed.
An attacker can exploit this by controlling the content of a package served when OpenTofu is expecting to receive a archive using the .zip format, during either provider or module package installation.
However, the attacker must also coerce an OpenTofu operator into attempting dependency installation from a source that they control. Typical use of OpenTofu already requires caution in selection of third-party dependencies because they are arbitrary code, and so the vulnerability here is only in the addition of a potential denial of service in the tofu init process, which does not execute third-party dependency code itself.
Patches
OpenTofu v1.11.4 addresses these vulnerabilities by being built against Go 1.25.6, which contains an improved version of the upstream implementation.
Workarounds
These vulnerabilities can be exploited only if an attacker can coerce an operator to add a dependency from an attacker-controlled source to their configuration before running tofu init. Those who are unable to immediately upgrade can therefore minimize risk by reviewing new dependencies before adding them to the configuration, such as by directly fetching the relevant artifacts using software other than OpenTofu.
Successful exploitation requires that the attacker control a .zip archive that OpenTofu would fetch and extract during the provider or module installation processes. Note that OpenTofu modules can have their own dependencies on other providers and modules, so an attacker could potentially use a module served from a source such as GitHub or the OpenTofu Registry to indirectly request a provider or module package from a server that they control.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/opentofu/opentofu | all versions | 1.11.4go get github.com/opentofu/opentofu@v1.11.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/opentofu/opentofu, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/opentofu/opentofu to 1.11.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 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-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-r92c-9c7f-3pj8. 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-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-r92c-9c7f-3pj8 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.