Path Traversal in Rubygems

CVE-2019-8320

A Directory Traversal issue was discovered in RubyGems 2.7.6 and later through 3.0.2. Before making new directories or touching files (which now include path-checking code for symlinks), it would delete the target destination. If that destination was hidden behind a symlink, a malicious gem could delete arbitrary files on the user's machine, presuming the attacker could guess at paths. Given how frequently gem is run as sudo, and how predictable paths are on modern systems (/tmp, /usr, etc.), this could likely lead to data loss or an unusable system.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.4 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.042 (90.6th percentile), scored .

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 91st percentile — 90.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2019-8320: held from 0.042 to 0.042.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.042 · newest: 0.042 · change: -0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-8320?
CVE-2019-8320 is a high-severity vulnerability in Rubygems, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 7.4/10. Published 2019-06-06.
How severe is CVE-2019-8320?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.4 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-8320 known to be exploited?
3 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.