Ruby: Arbitrary command execution through XML-RPC

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Updated July 11, 2005

1.  Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Version Information

Advisory Reference GLSA 200507-10 / ruby
Release Date July 11, 2005
Latest Revision July 11, 2005: 01
Impact high
Exploitable remote
Package Vulnerable versions Unaffected versions Architecture(s)
dev-lang/ruby < 1.8.2-r2 >= 1.8.2-r2 All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #96784

Synopsis

A vulnerability in XMLRPC.iPIMethods allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands.

2.  Impact Information

Background

Ruby is an interpreted scripting language for quick and easy object-oriented programming. XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol encoded in XML.

Description

Nobuhiro IMAI reported that an invalid default value in "utils.rb" causes the security protections of the XML-RPC server to fail.

Impact

A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary commands.

3.  Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Ruby users should upgrade to the latest available version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/ruby-1.8.2-r2"

4.  References