GHSA-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5
Tracing logging user input may result in poisoning logs with ANSI escape sequences
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
tracing-subscriberReal-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
Impact
Previous versions of tracing-subscriber were vulnerable to ANSI escape sequence injection attacks. Untrusted user input containing ANSI escape sequences could be injected into terminal output when logged, potentially allowing attackers to:
- Manipulate terminal title bars
- Clear screens or modify terminal display
- Potentially mislead users through terminal manipulation
In isolation, impact is minimal, however security issues have been found in terminal emulators that enabled an attacker to use ANSI escape sequences via logs to exploit vulnerabilities in the terminal emulator.
Patches
tracing-subscriber version 0.3.20 fixes this vulnerability by escaping ANSI control characters in when writing events to destinations that may be printed to the terminal.
Workarounds
Avoid printing logs to terminal emulators without escaping ANSI control sequences.
References
https://www.packetlabs.net/posts/weaponizing-ansi-escape-sequences/
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank zefr0x who responsibly reported the issue at [email protected].
If you believe you have found a security vulnerability in any tokio-rs project, please email us at [email protected].
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | tracing-subscriber | all versions | 0.3.20 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tracing-subscriber. 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 tracing-subscriber to 0.3.20 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5 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-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5 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-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5. 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-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xwfj-jgwm-7wp5 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.