GHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 — rclone
HIGHGHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-331 vulnerability in github.com/rclone/rclone. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/rclone/rclone — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator in Rclone
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-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 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
github.com/rclone/rcloneReal-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 Rclone before 1.53.3. Due to the use of a weak random number generator, the password generator has been producing weak passwords with much less entropy than advertised. The suggested passwords depend deterministically on the time the second rclone was started. This limits the entropy of the passwords enormously. These passwords are often used in the crypt backend for encryption of data. It would be possible to make a dictionary of all possible passwords with about 38 million entries per password length. This would make decryption of secret material possible with a plausible amount of effort. NOTE: all passwords generated by affected versions should be changed.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/rclone/rclone | all versions | 1.53.3go get github.com/rclone/rclone@v1.53.3 |
Research 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 github.com/rclone/rclone, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/rclone/rclone to 1.53.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 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-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29. 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-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.