CVE-2025-54956VulnerabilityPublished 3 Aug 2025Updated 25 Nov 2025

CVE-2025-54956: r-lib gh · Incorrect Resource Transfer Between Spheres

Affects r-lib ghSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.2 Low.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.2Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 3 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
r-lib gh	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should monitor for the release of an official patch or update to the 'gh' package version 1.5.0 or later and prioritize upgrading as soon as it becomes available. Until then, developers should audit their code to ensure that HTTP response objects from the 'gh' package are not logged, stored, or transmitted in a way that could expose the Authorization header. Implement strict access controls on developer and CI/CD environments to limit local access to trusted personnel only. Use environment variables or secure vaults to manage GitHub tokens and avoid embedding them directly in code or response objects. Employ token scopes with least privilege to minimize potential damage if tokens are exposed. Additionally, consider rotating GitHub tokens regularly and monitoring GitHub audit logs for suspicious activity. Incorporate static code analysis or security reviews to detect improper handling of sensitive data in R scripts using the 'gh' package. Finally, educate developers about the risk of leaking authorization headers through response objects and encourage secure coding practices.

Description

The gh package before 1.5.0 for R delivers an HTTP response in a data structure that includes the Authorization header from the corresponding HTTP request.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is the potential leakage of GitHub authorization tokens used in automated workflows or data analysis scripts written in R that utilize the 'gh' package. Exposure of these tokens could allow unauthorized access to GitHub repositories, potentially leading to data exposure or unauthorized code changes if tokens have write permissions. Although the vulnerability requires local access and high complexity to exploit, insider threats or compromised developer machines could leverage this flaw. Organizations heavily reliant on R for data science, analytics, or DevOps automation involving GitHub may face increased risk of credential leakage. The impact on confidentiality is low but non-negligible, especially for organizations with sensitive or proprietary codebases hosted on GitHub. There is no direct impact on system integrity or availability. The vulnerability does not appear to be exploitable remotely or without local access, limiting its broader impact. However, improper handling of the response data structure in application code or logs could amplify the risk of credential exposure.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Nov 2025, 07:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-669

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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