CVE-2016-2097

Directory traversal vulnerability in Action View in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2 and 4.x before 4.1.14.2 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method and providing a .. (dot dot) in a pathname. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-0752.

Published: 2016-04-07 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-2097 is rated Moderate Risk (55.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.42%, 90th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +2.51% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2016-2097

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 1.91% 4.42% +2.51%
2 2026-03-05 2.34% 1.91% -0.43%
3 2026-03-04 — 2.34% —

Full EPSS history (35 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-2097

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-2097

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-2097

GHSA-vx9j-46rh-fqr8 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: rubygems — actionview contains Path Traversal vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-2097

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-2097 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (rails), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-2097
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2097
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2097/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-2097 medium priority: Ubuntu including 11 source packages (rails, rails-4.0, …), 121 status rows across 11 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 97, ignored 12, needs-triage 7, not-affected 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2097

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-2097

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rubyonrails rails 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.0:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.1:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.4:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.5 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.6:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.6:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.6:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.7 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.8 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.9 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.0.10 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.0.10:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.4 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.6:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.6:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.7 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.8 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.9 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.9:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.10 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.10:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.10 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.10:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.10 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.10:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.10 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.10:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.12 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.12:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.13 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.14 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.14:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails rails 4.1.14 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:rails:4.1.14:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails ruby_on_rails <= 3.2.22.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:ruby_on_rails:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rubyonrails ruby_on_rails 4.1.14.1 cpe:2.3:a:rubyonrails:ruby_on_rails:4.1.14.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-2097

cvelogic Threat Intelligence