Ruby on Rails Directory Traversal Vulnerability
Rails · Ruby on Rails
A directory traversal flaw in Action View, the view rendering component of Ruby on Rails, affects Rails versions before 3.2.22.1, 4.0.x, 4.1.x before 4.1.14.1, 4.2.x before 4.2.5.1, and 5.x before 5.0.0.beta1.1. A remote, unauthenticated attacker with network access can read arbitrary files on the server by supplying a ".." sequence in a pathname passed to the render method, which applications expose without restriction and without any user interaction required.
Directory traversal vulnerability in Action View in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.1, 4.0.x and 4.1.x before 4.1.14.1, 4.2.x before 4.2.5.1, and 5.x before 5.0.0.beta1.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method and providing a .. (dot dot) in a pathname.
- Exploited
- Yes, in CISA KEV
- Reports
- 0
- Tactics
- 2/15
How an attack unfolds
Based on MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. mappings. Select a step to see the evidence.Exploitation timelineDated milestones for a CVE: when it was disclosed, when exploit code became public, when exploitation was confirmed, and when threat reports named it.
First seen exploited 4 years after disclosure. Public exploit code (PoC-in-GitHub) was available 21 days before disclosure.
- Public exploit codePoC-in-GitHub21 days before
- Disclosedday 0
- First seen exploitedVulnCheck KEV evidence+4 yrs
- Added to CISA KEVEU database agrees+6 yrs
CISA KEV listing is when exploitation was confirmed, not necessarily the first attack.
Patch historyEarlier and later CVEs in the same code, in date order. It shows when a fix was bypassed or incomplete and which version finally fixed it.
See the family treeA fix was bypassed or incomplete once over 7 weeks. The latest fix listed for actionpack is 6.0.3.1.
Same bug familyLinked by evidence that a fix failed or the same code was patched again. Oldest first.
- This CVECVE-2016-0752Ruby on Rails Directory Traversal16 Feb 2016KEV
incomplete fixHigh
Why these are linked: Link confidenceHow strong the evidence is that two CVEs are related. High: stated in the CVE text or linked in an advisory, or the same code was patched one release apart. Medium: the same code, or a version step plus a similar description. Low: similar description only.
- Stated in the CVE text
NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-0752.
- Fixed one release later4.1.14.1 → 4.1.14.2 (actionview)
- Similar weakness in the same product (machine-matched)same package + description similarity
- Stated in the CVE text
Fixes in actionpackRubyGems package, by fixed version. Earlier and later fixes in the same package, not necessarily the same bug.
- 4.2.0.beta4CVE-2014-782918 Nov 2014
- 4.2.5.1CVE-2015-758116 Feb 2016
- 4.2.5.1CVE-2016-075116 Feb 2016
- 4.2.5.1CVE-2016-075216 Feb 2016KEV
- 4.2.5.2CVE-2016-20987 Apr 2016
- 6.0.3.1CVE-2020-816419 Jun 2020
- 6.0.3.1CVE-2020-81662 Jul 2020Latest listed
MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. techniques
2 TechniqueOne specific attacker behaviour in MITRE ATT&CK, such as T1190 “Exploit Public-Facing Application”. IDs with a dot, like T1059.004, are sub-techniques., grouped by TacticThe attacker’s goal at a stage of an attack in MITRE ATT&CK, such as Initial Access or Persistence. Each technique belongs to one or more tactics. in kill-chain order, 2 cited passages 2Initial AccessTA0001
remote unauthenticated attacker exploits public-facing web app
allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files
CollectionTA0009
directory traversal reads arbitrary local files
allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files
Detection
0 rules for this CVE · 163 general rules for its techniquesRules for this CVE
0Sigma ruleAn open, vendor-neutral detection rule for log data. Security teams convert Sigma rules into searches for their own SIEM. that reference CVE-2016-0752 directly.CVE-specific rules are not available in this build. Search SigmaHQ ↗
General rules for this CVE’s techniques
These detect the technique in general, not this specific vulnerability.
Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1190149 general rules
- Arcadyan Router Exploitationscriticaltest
- Citrix ADS Exploitation CVE-2020-8193 CVE-2020-8195criticaltest
- Citrix Netscaler Attack CVE-2019-19781criticaltest
- Confluence Exploitation CVE-2019-3398criticaltest
- CVE-2010-5278 Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- CVE-2020-0688 Exchange Exploitation via Web Logcriticaltest
- CVE-2020-10148 SolarWinds Orion API Auth Bypasscriticaltest
- CVE-2020-5902 F5 BIG-IP Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
Data from Local SystemT100514 general rules
- OpenCanary - SMB File Open Requesthightest
- Potential Conti Ransomware Database Dumping Activity Via SQLCmdhightest
- SQLite Chromium Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- SQLite Firefox Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- VeeamBackup Database Credentials Dump Via Sqlcmd.EXEhightest
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Linuxhighexperimental
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Windowshighexperimental
- Shai-Hulud NPM Package Malicious Exfiltration via Curlhighexperimental
Sigma rules © SigmaHQ, Detection Rule License 1.1; linked, not reproduced.
Am I affected? What do I upgrade to?
From GitHub Security Advisories and OSV2 packages in 1 ecosystem. No single main package: each of these ships the affected code.
- RubyGemsactionviewAffected: 4.2.0 up to 4.2.5.1; 4.0.0 up to 4.1.14.1Upgrade to 4.2.11.3 or later (older lines: 4.1.14.1)
- RubyGemsactionpackAffected: 4.2.0 up to 4.2.5.1; 4.0.0 up to 4.1.14.1; All versions before 3.2.22.1Upgrade to 4.2.5.2 or later (older lines: 4.1.14.2, 3.2.22.2)
What security researchers reported
Not named in any threat report yetAlso mentioned in 50 community threat pulses (AlienVault OTX)
Weaker evidencePulses are indicator collections that anyone can publish. A mention is not confirmation of exploitation.
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 202628 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 202627 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 202626 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 24, 202623 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 23, 202622 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 22, 202621 Oct 2026
- 44 more on OTX