Ruby: Denial of Service vulnerability

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200611-12 / ruby
Release Date	November 20, 2006
Latest Revision	June 11, 2009: 02
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
dev-lang/ruby	< 1.8.5-r3	>= 1.8.5-r3	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #153497

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

Zed Shaw, Jeremy Kemper, and Jamis Buck of the Mongrel project reported that the CGI library shipped with Ruby is vulnerable to a remote Denial of Service by an unauthenticated user.

Impact

The vulnerability can be exploited by sending the cgi.rb library an HTTP request with multipart MIME encoding that contains a malformed MIME boundary specifier beginning with "-" instead of "--". Successful exploitation of the vulnerability causes the library to go into an infinite loop waiting for additional nonexistent input.

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: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/ruby-1.8.5-r3"

4. References

CVE-2006-5467

Page updated November 20, 2006

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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