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    CVE-2008-3790

    The REXML module in Ruby 1.8.6 through 1.8.6-p287, 1.8.7 through 1.8.7-p72, and 1.9 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via an XML document with recursively nested entities, aka an "XML entity explosion."

    Published:Aug 23, 2008
    Last Modified:Apr 23, 2026
    EPS:Aug 27, 2008
    EPSS Score:0.28838
    CVSS Score:5

    Affected Products

    Vendor
    Redhat
    Product
    Enterprise Linux
    Vendor
    Ruby-lang
    Product
    Ruby

    Exploits

    http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2008/08/23/dos-vulnerability-in-rexml/http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2008/08/23/dos-vulnerability-in-rexml/https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/32292

    Common Weakness Enumeration

    CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

    Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

    CAPEC-10 Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    CAPEC-101 Server Side Include (SSI) Injection
    CAPEC-104 Cross Zone Scripting
    CAPEC-108 Command Line Execution through SQL Injection
    CAPEC-109 Object Relational Mapping Injection
    CAPEC-110 SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering
    CAPEC-120 Double Encoding
    CAPEC-13 Subverting Environment Variable Values
    CAPEC-135 Format String Injection
    CAPEC-136 LDAP Injection
    CAPEC-14 Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow
    CAPEC-153 Input Data Manipulation
    CAPEC-182 Flash Injection
    CAPEC-209 XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch
    CAPEC-22 Exploiting Trust in Client
    CAPEC-23 File Content Injection
    CAPEC-230 Serialized Data with Nested Payloads
    CAPEC-231 Oversized Serialized Data Payloads
    CAPEC-24 Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow
    CAPEC-250 XML Injection
    CAPEC-261 Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data
    CAPEC-267 Leverage Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-28 Fuzzing
    CAPEC-3 Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters
    CAPEC-31 Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies
    CAPEC-42 MIME Conversion
    CAPEC-43 Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers
    CAPEC-45 Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links
    CAPEC-46 Overflow Variables and Tags
    CAPEC-47 Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion
    CAPEC-473 Signature Spoof
    CAPEC-52 Embedding NULL Bytes
    CAPEC-53 Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash
    CAPEC-588 DOM-Based XSS
    CAPEC-63 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
    CAPEC-64 Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-664 Server Side Request Forgery
    CAPEC-67 String Format Overflow in syslog()
    CAPEC-7 Blind SQL Injection
    CAPEC-71 Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-72 URL Encoding
    CAPEC-73 User-Controlled Filename
    CAPEC-78 Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-79 Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-8 Buffer Overflow in an API Call
    CAPEC-80 Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-81 Web Server Logs Tampering
    CAPEC-83 XPath Injection
    CAPEC-85 AJAX Footprinting
    CAPEC-88 OS Command Injection
    CAPEC-9 Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities

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    References

    http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/19f69e8a081fc0d1/e138e014b74352ca
    http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/May/msg00002.html
    http://secunia.com/advisories/31602
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32165
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32219
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32255
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32256
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32371
    http://secunia.com/advisories/33178
    http://secunia.com/advisories/33185
    http://secunia.com/advisories/35074
    http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200812-17.xml
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3549
    http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2008-424.htm
    http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2008/9/3/rails-2-0-4-maintenance-release
    http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1651
    http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1652
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/25/4
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/26/1
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/26/4
    http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0897.html
    http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2008/08/23/dos-vulnerability-in-rexml/
    http://www.ruby-lang.org/security/20080823rexml/rexml-expansion-fix.rb
    http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30802
    http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1020735
    http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-133A.html
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2428
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2483
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1297
    https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44628
    https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10393
    https://usn.ubuntu.com/651-1/
    https://usn.ubuntu.com/691-1/
    https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00259.html
    https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00299.html
    http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/thread/19f69e8a081fc0d1/e138e014b74352ca
    http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/May/msg00002.html
    http://secunia.com/advisories/31602
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32165
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32219
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32255
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32256
    http://secunia.com/advisories/32371
    http://secunia.com/advisories/33178
    http://secunia.com/advisories/33185
    http://secunia.com/advisories/35074
    http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200812-17.xml
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3549
    http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2008-424.htm
    http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2008/9/3/rails-2-0-4-maintenance-release
    http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1651
    http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1652
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/25/4
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/26/1
    http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/08/26/4
    http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0897.html
    http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2008/08/23/dos-vulnerability-in-rexml/
    http://www.ruby-lang.org/security/20080823rexml/rexml-expansion-fix.rb
    http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30802
    http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1020735
    http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-133A.html
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2428
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2483
    http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1297
    https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44628
    https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10393
    https://usn.ubuntu.com/651-1/
    https://usn.ubuntu.com/691-1/
    https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00259.html
    https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00299.html

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High