Cross-site scripting in Rails ActiveSupport
Priority LOW 26CWE-79Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Cross-site scripting
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 fixed, 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-79.
Summary
There is a vulnerability in ActiveSupport if the new bytesplice method is called on a SafeBuffer with untrusted user input.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00948 61st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial ActiveSupport (Rails): 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3activesupport (RubyGems): 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3Red Hat: 2 advisoriesRed Hat: 2 fixed, 2 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rails | ActiveSupport | 7.0.4.3 to before 7.0.4.3; 6.1.7.3 to before 6.1.7.3 | 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | activesupport (RubyGems) | 7.0.0 to before 7.0.4.3 | 7.0.4.3 | Patch available | GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j |
| — | activesupport (RubyGems) | before 6.1.7.3 | 6.1.7.3 | Patch available | GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j |
- ActiveSupport VendorRails Affected 7.0.4.3 to before 7.0.4.3; 6.1.7.3 to before 6.1.7.3 Fixed in 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3 Patch available CNA
- activesupport (RubyGems) Vendor— Affected 7.0.0 to before 7.0.4.3 Fixed in 7.0.4.3 Patch available GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j
- activesupport (RubyGems) Vendor— Affected before 6.1.7.3 Fixed in 6.1.7.3 Patch available GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j
Remediation
- Fix · CNA ActiveSupport (Rails) Fixed in 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3
- Fix · GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j activesupport (RubyGems) Fixed in 7.0.4.3 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j activesupport (RubyGems) Fixed in 6.1.7.3 Advisory →
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2023:3495 Released 2023-06-12 · Red Hat rating ModerateLogging Subsystem 5.7.2 - Red Hat OpenShift security update
- RHOL 5.7 for RHEL 8 openshift-logging/cluster-logging-rhel8-operator, openshift-logging/eventrouter-rhel8, openshift-logging/fluentd-rhel8
- RHSA-2023:1953 Released 2023-04-26 · Red Hat rating ModerateLogging Subsystem 5.6.5 - Red Hat OpenShift security update
- RHOL 5.6 for RHEL 8 openshift-logging/fluentd-rhel8
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| RHOL 5.6 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:1953 |
| RHOL 5.7 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:3495 |
Not affected: 3 products
- RHOL 5.6 for RHEL 8
- RHOL 5.7 for RHEL 8
- Red Hat Satellite 6
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-28120
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j
References
Other 10
- https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/cve-2023-28120-possible-xss-security-vulnerability-in-safebuffer-bytesplice/82469
- https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/3cf23c3f891e2e81c977ea4ab83b62bc2a444b70
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/UPV6PVCX4VDJHLFFT42EXBBSGAWZICOW/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/ZE5W4MH6IE4DV7GELDK6ISCSTFLHKSYO/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240202-0006/
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5389
- https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/activesupport/CVE-2023-28120.yml
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/UPV6PVCX4VDJHLFFT42EXBBSGAWZICOW
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/ZE5W4MH6IE4DV7GELDK6ISCSTFLHKSYO
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240202-0006
More Rails vulnerabilities
- TI-2014-00124 Directory traversal vulnerability in actionpack/lib/abstract_controller/base.rb in the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2019-03828 Path traversal in Rails https://github.com/rails/rails KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2016-00672 Directory traversal vulnerability in Action View in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.1, 4.0.x… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2019-03830 Command injection in Rails https://github.com/rails/rails CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-47043 Action Pack: Possible arbitrary file read and remote code execution in Active Storage variant processing CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.5
- TI-2025-18040 Command injection in Rails activestorage CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.2
Sources
- CVE-2023-28120 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-28120 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-pj73-v5mw-pm9j · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-28120 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences