No protection against rollback attacks in go-tuf
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
go-tuf is a Go implementation of The Update Framework (TUF). go-tuf does not correctly implement the client workflow for updating the metadata files for roles other than the root role. Specifically, checks for rollback attacks are not implemented correctly meaning an attacker can cause clients to install software that is older than the software which the client previously knew to be available, and may include software with known vulnerabilities. In more detail, the client code of go-tuf has several issues in regards to preventing rollback attacks: 1. It does not take into account the content of any previously trusted metadata, if available, before proceeding with updating roles other than the root role (i.e., steps 5.4.3.1 and 5.5.5 of the detailed client workflow). This means that any form of version verification done on the newly-downloaded metadata is made using the default value of zero, which always passes. 2. For both timestamp and snapshot roles, go-tuf saves these metadata files as trusted before verifying if the version of the metafiles they refer to is correct (i.e., steps 5.5.4 and 5.6.4 of the detailed client workflow). A fix is available in version 0.3.0 or newer. No workarounds are known for this issue apart from upgrading.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| theupdateframework | go-tuf | before 0.3.0 | 0.3.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf (Go) | before 0.3.0 | 0.3.0 | Patch available | GHSA-66x3-6cw3-v5gj |
- go-tuf Vendortheupdateframework Affected before 0.3.0 Fixed in 0.3.0 Patch available CNA
- github.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.3.0 Fixed in 0.3.0 Patch available GHSA-66x3-6cw3-v5gj
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:theupdateframework:go-tuf:0.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 0.2.0 | Vulnerable | theupdateframework |
- cpe:2.3:a:theupdateframework:go-tuf:0.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 0.2.0 Vulnerable ·theupdateframework
Remediation
- Fix · CNA go-tuf (theupdateframework) Fixed in 0.3.0
- Fix · GHSA-66x3-6cw3-v5gj github.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf (Go) Fixed in 0.3.0 Advisory →
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2022:5704 Released 2022-07-25 · Red Hat rating ModerateACS 3.71 enhancement and security update
- RHACS 3.71 for RHEL 8 advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-docs-rhel8, advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-main-rhel8, advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-rhel8-operator +1
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 3 | Affected | No fix yet |
| RHACS 3.71 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2022:5704 |
Not affected: 1 product
- RHACS 3.71 for RHEL 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-29173
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-66x3-6cw3-v5gj
References
Patch 2
More theupdateframework Go-tuf vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-19908 go-tuf Path Traversal in TAP 4 Multirepo Client Allows Arbitrary File Write via Malicious Repository Names CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.7
- TI-2026-19332 go-tuf affected by client DoS via malformed server response CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-19333 go-tuf improperly validates the configured threshold for delegations CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2022-29173 · CVE Program
- CVE-2022-29173 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-66x3-6cw3-v5gj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2022-29173 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences