---
id: RUSTSEC-2024-0433
aliases:
  - GHSA-4fg7-vxc8-qx5w
  - RUSTSEC-2024-0432
title: >-
  Malicious plugin names, recipients, or identities can cause arbitrary binary
  execution
summary: >-
  Malicious plugin names, recipients, or identities can cause arbitrary binary
  execution
severity: none
vendor: age
product: age
ecosystem: rust
affected:
  - 'age >= 0.11.0, < 0.11.1'
patched:
  - age 0.11.1
published: '2024-12-18'
updated: '2026-10-12'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-12T18:00:12.403778948Z'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/RUSTSEC-2024-0433'
references:
  - url: 'https://crates.io/crates/age'
  - url: 'https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2024-0433.html'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/str4d/rage/commit/703152ecfa86f27952a35b57dd525ed39396a227
tags:
  - osv
  - rust
ingestedAt: '2026-10-13T11:45:30.172Z'
---

## Overview

A plugin name containing a path separator may allow an attacker to execute an arbitrary
binary.

Such a plugin name can be provided through an attacker-controlled input to the following
`age` APIs when the `plugin` feature flag is enabled:
- [`age::plugin::Identity::from_str`](https://docs.rs/age/0.11.0/age/plugin/struct.Identity.html#impl-FromStr-for-Identity)
  (or equivalently [`str::parse::<age::plugin::Identity>()`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/core/primitive.str.html#method.parse))
- [`age::plugin::Identity::default_for_plugin`](https://docs.rs/age/0.11.0/age/plugin/struct.Identity.html#method.default_for_plugin)
- [`age::plugin::IdentityPluginV1::new`](https://docs.rs/age/0.11.0/age/plugin/struct.IdentityPluginV1.html#method.new)
  (the `plugin_name` argument)
- [`age::plugin::Recipient::from_str`](https://docs.rs/age/0.11.0/age/plugin/struct.Recipient.html#impl-FromStr-for-Recipient)
  (or equivalently [`str::parse::<age::plugin::Recipient>()`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/core/primitive.str.html#method.parse))
- [`age::plugin::RecipientPluginV1::new`](https://docs.rs/age/0.11.0/age/plugin/struct.RecipientPluginV1.html#method.new)
  (the `plugin_name` argument)

On UNIX systems, a directory matching `age-plugin-*` needs to exist in the working
directory for the attack to succeed.

The binary is executed with a single flag, either `--age-plugin=recipient-v1` or
`--age-plugin=identity-v1`. The standard input includes the recipient or identity string,
and the random file key (if encrypting) or the header of the file (if decrypting). The
format is constrained by the [age-plugin](https://c2sp.org/age-plugin) protocol.

An equivalent issue was fixed in [the reference Go implementation of age](https://github.com/FiloSottile/age),
see advisory [GHSA-32gq-x56h-299c](https://github.com/FiloSottile/age/security/advisories/GHSA-32gq-x56h-299c).

Thanks to ⬡-49016 for reporting this issue.

## Affected packages

- `age >= 0.11.0, < 0.11.1`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `age 0.11.1`