CVE-2016-2098 in the critical feed json
actionpack allows remote code execution via application's unrestricted use of render method
published 2016-04-07 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also GHSA-78rc-8c29-p45g , EUVD-2017-0185
- cvss
- 7.3
- version 3.0, NVD
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 81.4%
- EPSS 81.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.6%
- public exploits
- 2
- Metasploit, Exploit-DB
Summary
Action Pack in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.2, 4.x before 4.1.14.2, and 4.2.x before 4.2.5.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Ruby code by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method.
Patch / fix
- rubygems actionpack 3.2.22.2, 4.1.14.2, 4.2.5.2
- rails Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2:4.2.5.2-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-2098
- ruby193-rubygem-actionpack RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-16.el6
- ruby193-rubygem-actionpack RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-16.el7
- ruby193-rubygem-activerecord RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-11.el6
- ruby193-rubygem-activerecord RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-11.el7
- ruby193-rubygem-activesupport RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-6.el6
- ruby193-rubygem-activesupport RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:3.2.8-6.el7
- ror40-rubygem-actionpack RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:4.0.2-7.el6
- ror40-rubygem-actionpack RHEL 2 SOFTWARE_COLLECTIONS 1:4.0.2-7.el7
red hat advisories RHSA-2016:0455RHSA-2016:0454RHSA-2016:0456
- rubygem-rails-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-3.3.1
- rubygem-railties-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-3.3.1
- rubygem-activejob-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-3.3.1
- rubygem-actionpack-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-7.3.1
- rubygem-actionview-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-9.3.1
- rubygem-activemodel-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-6.3.1
- rubygem-actionmailer-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-3.3.1
- rubygem-activerecord-4_2 OpenStack Cloud 7, OpenStack Cloud 6, Enterprise Storage 4 +1 more 4.2.9-6.3.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:2716-1SUSE-SU-2016:1146-1SUSE-SU-2016:0967-1SUSE-SU-2016:0867-1SUSE-SU-2016:0854-1
- rubygem-actionview-4_2 openSUSE Tumbleweed 5.0.0.1-1.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10057-1
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2016-2098 updated cvss 6.8
rubygem-actionpack: code injection vulnerability in Action View
-
Red Hat CloudForms Management Engine 5 ruby193-rubygem-actionpackaffected: no fix available
-
Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager rubygem-actionpack, ruby193-rubygem-actionpackaffected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
-
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el6, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el6, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el6, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el6, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el7, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el7, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el7, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el7, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 6.6) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el6, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el6, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el6, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el6, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 6.7) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el6, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el6, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el6, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el6, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.1) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el7, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el7, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el7, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el7, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.2) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el7, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el7, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el7, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el7, +2 morefixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0456
+2 more productsfewer
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el6, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el6, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el6, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el6, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el6, +2 more Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) ror40-rubygem-actionpack 4.0.2-7.el7, ror40-rubygem-activerecord 4.0.2-6.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionpack 4.1.5-4.el7, rh-ror41-rubygem-actionview 4.1.5-5.el7, ror40-rubygem-activesupport 4.0.2-4.el7, ruby193-rubygem-actionpack 3.2.8-16.el7, +2 more -
Red Hat Software Collections rh-ror42-rubygem-actionviewnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Timeline
- First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/multi/http/rails_actionpack_inline_exec)
- Published
Exploit prediction
81.45% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Exploits and checks
- Metasploit exploit/multi/http/rails_actionpack_inline_exec Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB Code Execution metasploit exploit, excellent rank, 2016-03-01
- EDB-40086 Ruby on Rails ActionPack Inline ERB - Code Execution (Metasploit) remote, 2016-07-11
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVD | 3.0 | 7.3 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L |
| NVD | 2.0 | 7.5 | AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P |
| GitHub | 3.0 | 7.3 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| rubygems | actionpack | >=3.0.0, <3.2.22.2 >=4.0.0, <4.1.14.2 >=4.2.0, <4.2.5.2 |
3.2.22.2 4.1.14.2 4.2.5.2 |
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
- Technology feeds
References
-
weblog.rubyonrails.org
/2016/2/29/Rails-4-2-5-2-4-1-14-2-3-2-22-2-have-been-released/
patch, vendor-advisory
-
exploit-db.com
/exploits/40086/
exploit
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00086.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00006.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
debian.org
/security/2016/dsa-3509
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00083.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00057.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00053.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
lists.opensuse.org
/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00080.html
vendor-advisory, web
-
securityfocus.com
/bid/83725
vdb-entry
-
securitytracker.com
/id/1035122
vdb-entry
-
groups.google.com
/forum/message/raw?msg=rubyonrails-security/ly-IH-fxr_Q/WLoOhcMZIAAJ
mailing-list
-
nvd.nist.gov
/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2098
advisory
-
github.com
/rails/rails
package
-
github.com
/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/actionpack/CVE-2016-2098.yml
web
-
groups.google.com
/forum/#!topic/rubyonrails-security/ly-IH-fxr_Q
web
-
web.archive.org
/web/20200228015318/http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83725
web
-
web.archive.org
/web/20210612214217/https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=rubyonrails-security/ly-IH-fxr_Q/WLoOhcMZI
web
-
web.archive.org
/web/20211205173437/https://securitytracker.com/id/1035122
web
-
exploit-db.com
/exploits/40086
web
-
weblog.rubyonrails.org
/2016/2/29/Rails-4-2-5-2-4-1-14-2-3-2-22-2-have-been-released
web
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2016-2098
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-78rc-8c29-p45g
- NVD CVE-2016-2098
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.