CVE-2024-49761 | REXML ReDoS vulnerability

REXML is an XML toolkit for Ruby. The REXML gem before 3.3.9 has a ReDoS vulnerability when it parses an XML that has many digits between &# and x...; in a hex numeric character reference (&#x...;). This does not happen with Ruby 3.2 or later. Ruby 3.1 is the only affected maintained Ruby. The REXML gem 3.3.9 or later include the patch to fix the vulnerability.

Published: 2024-10-28 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-49761 is rated Moderate Risk (55.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.65%). 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-2024-49761

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 2026-05-02 1.69% 1.65% -0.04%
2 2026-04-21 0.92% 1.69% +0.77%
3 2026-03-21 — 0.92% —

Full EPSS history (58 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-49761

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.6 4.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H)
High availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:U)
Unreported: no public PoC, no reported exploitation, and no known simplification tools.
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
 — — [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-49761

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-49761

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-49761

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2024-49761: 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-2024-49761
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-49761 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-2024-49761
gentoo normal CVE-2024-49761: 1 GLSA(s) (202507-08), 1 atom(s) (dev-ruby/rexml); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2024-49761
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-49761
suse medium CVE-2024-49761 severity moderate: SUSE including 322 source package names (2.23-77.6:libruby2_5-2_5-2.5.9-150000.4.36.1, 2.23-77.6:ruby2.5-2.5.9-150000.4.36.1, …), 1010 product×package rows across 228 product lines (Container bci/ruby, Container suse/rmt-server, … (228 product lines)): Fixed 712, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 67. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-49761/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-49761 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, released 8, needs-triage 7, not-affected 7, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-49761

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-49761

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ruby-lang rexml < 3.3.9 cpe:2.3:a:ruby-lang:rexml:*:*:*:*:*:ruby:*:*
netapp ontap_tools 10 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:ontap_tools:10:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*

References for CVE-2024-49761

cvelogic Threat Intelligence