Ruby: Denial of Service vulnerability

Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Version Information

Advisory Reference GLSA 200612-21 / ruby
Release Date December 20, 2006
Latest Revision December 20, 2006: 01
Impact normal
Exploitable remote
Package Vulnerable versions Unaffected versions Architecture(s)
dev-lang/ruby < 1.8.5_p2 >= 1.8.5_p2 All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #157048

Synopsis

The Ruby cgi.rb CGI library is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack.
2. Impact Information

Background

Ruby is a dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity.

Description

The read_multipart function of the CGI library shipped with Ruby (cgi.rb) does not properly check boundaries in MIME multipart content. This is a different issue than GLSA 200611-12.

Impact

The vulnerability can be exploited by sending the cgi.rb library a crafted HTTP request with multipart MIME encoding that contains a malformed MIME boundary specifier. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability causes the library to go into an infinite loop.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Ruby users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/ruby-1.8.5_p2"

4. References

CVE-2006-6303