CVE-2024-39908 | Denial of service in REXML

REXML is an XML toolkit for Ruby. The REXML gem before 3.3.1 has some DoS vulnerabilities when it parses an XML that has many specific characters such as `<`, `0` and `%>`. If you need to parse untrusted XMLs, you many be impacted to these vulnerabilities. The REXML gem 3.3.2 or later include the patches to fix these vulnerabilities. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should avoid parsing untrusted XML strings.

Published: 2024-07-16 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-39908 is rated Low Risk (36.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.38%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2024-39908

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 8.33% 1.38% -6.96%
2 2026-06-11 8.03% 8.33% +0.30%
3 2026-06-05 — 8.03% —

Full EPSS history (62 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-39908

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.8 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-39908

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-39908

GHSA-4xqq-m2hx-25v8 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: rubygems — REXML denial of service vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-39908

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2024-39908: 1 source package rows (ruby-rexml); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 5, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-39908
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-39908 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 3 source packages (ruby2.7, ruby3.1, ruby3.3), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-39908
gentoo normal CVE-2024-39908: 1 GLSA(s) (202507-08), 1 atom(s) (dev-ruby/rexml); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2024-39908
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-39908
suse medium CVE-2024-39908 severity moderate: SUSE including 321 source package names (2.19-54.2:libruby2_5-2_5-2.5.9-150000.4.32.1, 2.19-54.2:ruby2.5-2.5.9-150000.4.32.1, …), 947 product×package rows across 194 product lines (Container bci/ruby, Container suse/rmt-server, … (194 product lines)): Fixed 617, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 99. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-39908/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-39908 medium priority: Ubuntu including 7 source packages (jruby, ruby2.3, …), 54 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 31, needs-triage 13, released 6, ignored 2, not-affected 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-39908

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-39908

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ruby-lang rexml < 3.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:ruby-lang:rexml:*:*:*:*:*:ruby:*:*
netapp bootstrap_os — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:bootstrap_os:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-39908

cvelogic Threat Intelligence