[CVE-2023-28120] Possible XSS Security Vulnerability in SafeBuffer#bytesplice

There is a vulnerability in ActiveSupport if the new bytesplice method is called on a SafeBuffer with untrusted user input. This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-28120.

Versions Affected: All. Not affected: None Fixed Versions: 7.0.4.3, 6.1.7.3

Impact

ActiveSupport uses the SafeBuffer string subclass to tag strings as html_safe after they have been sanitized. When these strings are mutated, the tag is should be removed to mark them as no longer being html_safe.

Ruby 3.2 introduced a new bytesplice method which ActiveSupport did not yet understand to be a mutation. Users on older versions of Ruby are likely unaffected.

All users running an affected release and using bytesplice should either upgrade or use one of the workarounds immediately.

Releases

The FIXED releases are available at the normal locations.

Workarounds

Avoid calling bytesplice on a SafeBuffer (html_safe) string with untrusted user input.

Patches

To aid users who aren’t able to upgrade immediately we have provided patches for the two supported release series. They are in git-am format and consist of a single changeset.

  • 6-1-7-bytesplice.patch - Patch for 6.1 series
  • 7-0-4-bytesplice.patch - Patch for 7.0 series

Please note that only the 7.0.Z and 6.1.Z series are supported at present, and 6.0.Z for severe vulnerabilities. Users of earlier unsupported releases are advised to upgrade as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee the continued availability of security fixes for unsupported releases.

Credits

Thanks to Akira Matsuda for reporting this vulnerability and for the patch.

6-1-7-bytesplice.patch (2.2 KB) 7-0-4-bytesplice.patch (2.2 KB)

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