RGB-Tools / RGB-Tools/rust-lightning

RUSTSEC-2026-0097: Rand is unsound with a custom logger using `rand::rng()`

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Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Rand is unsound with a custom logger using rand::rng()

Details
Status unsound
Package rand
Version 0.8.5
URL https://github.com/rust-random/rand/pull/1763
Date 2026-04-09

It has been reported (by @lopopolo) that the rand library is unsound (i.e. that safe code using the public API can cause Undefined Behaviour) when all the following conditions are met:

  • The log and thread_rng features are enabled
  • A custom logger is defined
  • The custom logger accesses rand::rng() (previously rand::thread_rng()) and calls any TryRng (previously RngCore) methods on ThreadRng
  • The ThreadRng (attempts to) reseed while called from the custom logger (this happens every 64 kB of generated data)
  • Trace-level logging is enabled or warn-level logging is enabled and the random source (the getrandom crate) is unable to provide a new seed

TryRng (previously RngCore) methods for ThreadRng use unsafe code to cast *mut BlockRng<ReseedingCore> to &mut BlockRng<ReseedingCore>. When all the above conditions are met this results in an aliased mutable reference, violating the Stacked Borrows rules. Miri is able to detect this violation in sample code. Since construction of aliased mutable references is Undefined Behaviour, the behaviour of optimized builds is hard to predict.

Affected versions of rand are >= 0.7, < 0.9.3 and 0.10.0.

See advisory page for additional details.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue identifies rand as the affected package and links the upstream rand pull request and RustSec advisory. Review those references first, then determine the repository change needed to stop using an affected rand version and verify that the vulnerability is no longer present.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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