CVE-2012-4481

The safe-level feature in Ruby 1.8.7 allows context-dependent attackers to modify strings via the NameError#to_s method when operating on Ruby objects. NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2011-1005.

Published: 2013-05-02 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2012-4481 is rated Moderate Risk (45.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.94%). EPSS rose +1.45% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-4481

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.49% 1.94% +1.45%
2 2026-02-14 0.58% 0.49% -0.10%
3 2025-12-19 — 0.58% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-4481

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-4481

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-4481

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2012-4481: 1 GLSA(s) (201412-27), 1 atom(s) (dev-lang/ruby); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2012-4481
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4481
suse medium CVE-2012-4481 severity moderate: SUSE including 3 source package names (ruby-1.8.7.p357-0.9.15.6, ruby-doc-html-1.8.7.p357-0.9.15.6, ruby-tk-1.8.7.p357-0.9.15.6), 3 product×package rows across 1 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1-LTSS): Fixed 3. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-4481/
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-4481 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (ruby1.8, ruby1.9, ruby1.9.1), 22 status rows across 8 suites (hardy, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, upstream): not-affected 7, DNE 6, released 6, ignored 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-4481

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-4481

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ruby-lang ruby 1.8.7 cpe:2.3:a:ruby-lang:ruby:1.8.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-4481

cvelogic Threat Intelligence