Fluid Attacks Database

Description

REXML denial of service vulnerability

Impact

The REXML gem before 3.3.6 has a DoS vulnerability when it parses an XML that has many deep elements that have same local name attributes.

If you need to parse untrusted XMLs with tree parser API like REXML::Document.new, you may be impacted to this vulnerability. If you use other parser APIs such as stream parser API and SAX2 parser API, this vulnerability is not affected.

Patches

The REXML gem 3.3.6 or later include the patch to fix the vulnerability.

Workarounds

Don't parse untrusted XMLs with tree parser API.

References

https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2024/08/22/dos-rexml-cve-2024-43398/ : An announce on www.ruby-lang.org

Mitigation

Update Impact

Minimal update. May introduce new vulnerabilities or breaking changes.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected version	Patched versions
alpine v3.20	ruby-rexml	=3.2.5-r0 \|\| =3.2.5-r1 \|\| =3.2.5-r2 \|\| =3.2.5-r3 \|\| =3.2.6-r0 \|\| =3.2.6-r1 \|\| =3.2.9-r0 \|\| >=0 <3.3.9-r0	3.3.9-r0
rubygems	rexml	>=0 <3.3.6	3.3.6
alpine v3.19	ruby-rexml	=3.2.5-r0 \|\| =3.2.5-r1 \|\| =3.2.5-r2 \|\| =3.2.5-r3 \|\| =3.2.6-r0 \|\| >=0 <3.3.9-r0	3.3.9-r0
alpine v3.21	ruby-rexml	=3.2.5-r0 \|\| =3.2.5-r1 \|\| =3.2.5-r2 \|\| =3.2.5-r3 \|\| =3.2.6-r0 \|\| =3.2.6-r1 \|\| =3.2.9-r0 \|\| >=0 <3.3.9-r0	3.3.9-r0
alpine v3.22	ruby-rexml	=3.2.5-r0 \|\| =3.2.5-r1 \|\| =3.2.5-r2 \|\| =3.2.5-r3 \|\| =3.2.6-r0 \|\| =3.2.6-r1 \|\| =3.2.9-r0 \|\| >=0 <3.3.9-r0	3.3.9-r0
debian 11	ruby2.7	=2.7.4-1 \|\| =2.7.4-1+deb11u1 \|\| =2.7.4-1+deb11u2 \|\| >=0 <2.7.4-1+deb11u3	2.7.4-1+deb11u3
debian 12	ruby3.1	=3.1.2-7 \|\| =3.1.2-7+deb12u1 \|\| =3.1.2-7+hurd.1 \|\| =3.1.2-8 \|\| =3.1.2-8.1~exp1 \|\| =3.1.2-8.3 \|\| =3.1.2-8.4 \|\| =3.1.2-8.5	-
debian 13	ruby3.3	>=0 <3.3.5-1	3.3.5-1
debian 14	ruby3.3	>=0 <3.3.5-1	3.3.5-1
alpine v3.23	ruby-rexml	=3.2.5-r0 \|\| =3.2.5-r1 \|\| =3.2.5-r2 \|\| =3.2.5-r3 \|\| =3.2.6-r0 \|\| =3.2.6-r1 \|\| =3.2.9-r0 \|\| >=0 <3.3.9-r0	3.3.9-r0

1-10 of 15

Aliases

1. CVE-2024-433982. NVD-2024-433983. OSV-ALPINE-2024-433984. OSV-2024-433985. OSV-DEBIAN-2024-433986. GHSA-vmwr-mc7x-5vc37. GCVE-2024-433988. SECURITY-CVE-2024-433989. lists.debian.org10. SECURITY-TRACKER-CVE-2024-43398

References

1. https://github.com/ruby/rexml/security/advisories/GHSA-vmwr-mc7x-5vc32. https://github.com/ruby/rexml/commit/7cb5eaeb221c322b9912f724183294d8ce96bae33. https://github.com/ruby/rexml/releases/tag/v3.3.64. https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/rexml/CVE-2024-43398.yml5. https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250103-00066. https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2024/08/22/dos-rexml-cve-2024-43398

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