Summary
Tracing logging user input may result in poisoning logs with ANSI escape sequences
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].
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.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-58160? CVE-2025-58160 is a low-severity security vulnerability in tracing-subscriber (rust), affecting versions < 0.3.20. It is fixed in 0.3.20.
- Which versions of tracing-subscriber are affected by CVE-2025-58160? tracing-subscriber (rust) versions < 0.3.20 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-58160? Yes. CVE-2025-58160 is fixed in 0.3.20. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-58160 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-58160 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-58160 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2025-58160? Upgrade
tracing-subscriberto 0.3.20 or later.