What is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ is a high-severity security vulnerability in whoami (rust), affecting versions >= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0. It is fixed in 1.5.0.

How severe is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Which versions of whoami are affected by GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

whoami (rust) versions >= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

Yes. GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ is fixed in 1.5.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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.

What actually determines whether GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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.

GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ in whoami

Q: How severe is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Q: Which versions of whoami are affected by GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

whoami (rust) versions >= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0 is affected.

Q: Is there a fix for GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

Yes. GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ is fixed in 1.5.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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.

Q: What actually determines whether GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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.

Q: How do I fix GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ?

Upgrade whoami to 1.5.0 or later.

Summary

whoami stack buffer overflow on several Unix platforms

With versions of the whoami crate >= 0.5.3 and < 1.5.0, calling any of these functions leads to an immediate stack buffer overflow on illumos and Solaris:

whoami::username
whoami::realname
whoami::username_os
whoami::realname_os

With versions of the whoami crate >= 0.5.3 and < 1.0.1, calling any of the above functions also leads to a stack buffer overflow on these platforms:

Bitrig
DragonFlyBSD
FreeBSD
NetBSD
OpenBSD

This occurs because of an incorrect definition of the passwd struct on those platforms.

As a result of this issue, denial of service and data corruption have both been observed in the wild. The issue is possibly exploitable as well.

This vulnerability also affects other Unix platforms that aren't Linux or macOS.

This issue has been addressed in whoami 1.5.0.

For more information, see this GitHub issue.

Impact

GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.5.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

whoami (>= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0)

Security releases

whoami → 1.5.0 (rust)

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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Remediation advice

Upgrade whoami to 1.5.0 or later to resolve this vulnerability.

Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ? GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ is a high-severity security vulnerability in whoami (rust), affecting versions >= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0. It is fixed in 1.5.0.
How severe is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ? GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
Which versions of whoami are affected by GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ? whoami (rust) versions >= 0.5.3, < 1.5.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ? Yes. GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ is fixed in 1.5.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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 GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ 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 GHSA-W5W5-8VFH-XCJQ? Upgrade whoami to 1.5.0 or later.