Description
An issue was discovered in Rclone before 1.53.3. Due to the use of a weak random number generator, the password generator has been producing weak passwords with much less entropy than advertised. The suggested passwords depend deterministically on the time the second rclone was started. This limits the entropy of the passwords enormously. These passwords are often used in the crypt backend for encryption of data. It would be possible to make a dictionary of all possible passwords with about 38 million entries per password length. This would make decryption of secret material possible with a plausible amount of effort. NOTE: all passwords generated by affected versions should be changed.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 13 | rclone | 1.53.3-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | rclone | 1.53.3-1 | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUSE Package Hub 15 SP2 | rclone | 1.53.3-bp152.2.4.11 | openSUSE-SU-2021:0272-1 |
| SUSE Package Hub 15 SP1 | rclone | 1.53.3-bp151.4.6.1 | openSUSE-SU-2020:2168-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | rclone | 1.55.1-1.3 | openSUSE-SU-2024:11297-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.2 | rclone | 1.53.3-lp152.2.3.1 | openSUSE-SU-2020:2008-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.1 | rclone | 1.53.3-lp151.3.6.1 | openSUSE-SU-2020:2035-1 |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/rclone/rclone | < 1.53.3 | 1.53.3 | GHSA-rmw5-xpg9-jr29 |
Advisories 5
- openSUSE-SU-2024:11297-1 rclone-1.55.1-1.3 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2020:2008-1 Security update for rclone SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2020:2168-1 Security update for rclone SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2020:2035-1 Security update for rclone SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2021:0272-1 Security update for rclone SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · May 7, 2025
References
- https://rclone.org/downloads/
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/4783
- FEDORA-2020-3b0bb05117 vendor-advisory
- GLSA-202107-14 vendor-advisory