REXML DoS vulnerability

CVE-2024-41946 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Impact

The REXML gem before 3.3.2 has a DoS vulnerability when it parses an XML that has many entity expansions with SAX2 or pull parser API.

If you need to parse untrusted XMLs with SAX2 or pull parser API, you may be impacted to this vulnerability.

Patches

The REXML gem 3.3.3 or later include the patch to fix the vulnerability.

Workarounds

Don't parse untrusted XMLs with SAX2 or pull parser API.

References

  • https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2008/08/23/dos-vulnerability-in-rexml/ : This is a similar vulnerability
  • https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2024/08/01/dos-rexml-cve-2024-41946/: An announce on www.ruby-lang.org

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2024-08-02 12:33:15 UTC
Updated
2025-11-03 22:47:35 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2024-08-02 12:33:15 UTC
NVD published
2024-08-01

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.66% 70.75%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.5 3.1 —
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.
6.9 4.0 —
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N 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:L)
Limited 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.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-5866-49gr-22v4 ↗
CVE CVE-2024-41946 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

Credits

  • naitoh (finder)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
rubygems rexml < 3.3.3 3.3.3 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence