GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2: Diesel Diesel's SQLite Backend Has Possible Vulnerability

HIGH
Share
CWE-20
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2 is a HIGH diesel's sqlite backend has possible vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Diesel libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves diesel's sqlite backend has possible utf-8 corruption. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.3.8.

GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2 at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product Diesel
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Diesel dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

diesel fixed: 2.3.8 
Upgrade diesel to 2.3.8
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for diesel

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2, inspect your project dependencies for Diesel:

inspect dependencies for diesel

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Diesel in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.3.8), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, where the product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. In Diesel, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Diesel uses the `sqlite3_value_text` function to receive strings from SQLite while deserializing query results. We misinterpreted the corresponding [SQLite](https://sqlite.org/c3ref/value_blob.html) documentation that this function always returns a UTF-8 encoded string values as `*const c_char`. Based on that we used `str::from_utf8_unchecked` to construct a Rust string slice without any additional UTF-8 checks in place. It turned out that this function doesn't always return correct UTF-8 strings. For field of the SQLite side storage type `BLOB` this pointer can contain arbitrary bytes, which makes the usage of `str::from_utf8_unchecked` unsound as this violates the safety contract of `str` to only contain valid UTF-8 encoded Strings. ## Mitigation The preferred mitigation to the outlined problem is to update to a Diesel version 2.3.8 or newer, which includes fixes for the problem. ## Resolution Diesel now correctly checks whether the provides byte buffer is actually valid UTF-8, instead of relying on SQLite's documentation. This fix is included in the `2.3.8` release.

GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2 Affected Diesel Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.3.8
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
diesel
 crates.io
< 2.3.8
2.3.8

References

Diesel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/diesel-rs/diesel/pull/5042
Diesel Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/diesel-rs/diesel
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0111.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2?
GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2 is a security vulnerability in Diesel involving Diesel's SQLite backend has possible UTF-8 corruption under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Diesel versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.3.8 across affected packages: diesel.
What version fixes GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2?
Upgrading to 2.3.8 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is diesel affected?
Yes, diesel is affected in releases prior to 2.3.8. Upgrade your dependency to 2.3.8 or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2?
GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2 is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation (The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for diesel'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-h5x4-m2qf-r4f2",
  "modified" : "2026-05-05T18:08:05Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-05T18:08:05Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Diesel's SQLite backend has possible UTF-8 corruption",
  "details" : "Diesel uses the `sqlite3_value_text` function to receive strings from SQLite while deserializing query results. We misinterpreted the corresponding [SQLite](https://sqlite.org/c3ref/value_blob.html) documentation that this function always returns a UTF-8 encoded string values as `*const c_char`. Based on that we used `str::from_utf8_unchecked` to construct a Rust string slice without any additional UTF-8 checks in place. It turned out that this function doesn't always return correct UTF-8 strings. For field of the SQLite side storage type `BLOB` this pointer can contain arbitrary bytes, which makes the usage of `str::from_utf8_unchecked` unsound as this violates the safety contract of `str` to only contain valid UTF-8 encoded Strings.\n\n## Mitigation\n\nThe preferred mitigation to the outlined problem is to update to a Diesel version 2.3.8 or newer, which includes fixes for the problem.\n\n## Resolution\n\nDiesel now correctly checks whether the provides byte buffer is actually valid UTF-8, instead of relying on SQLite's documentation. This fix is included in the `2.3.8` release.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "diesel"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.3.8"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/diesel-rs/diesel/pull/5042"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/diesel-rs/diesel"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0111.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-05T18:08:05Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}