RailsApplication · Rubyonrails
CVE-2013-0277
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedActiveRecord in Ruby on Rails before 2.3.17 and 3.x before 3.1.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code via crafted serialized attributes that cause the +serialize+ helper to deserialize arbitrary YAML.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceActiveRecord's serialize helper in Ruby on Rails versions before 2.3.17 and 3.x before 3.1.0 deserializes YAML without proper validation, allowing remote attackers to inject malicious serialized objects that execute arbitrary code through YAML deserialization attacks.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
RailsApplication
= 3.0.0= 3.0.1= 3.0.2= 3.0.3= 3.0.4= 3.0.5= 3.0.6= 3.0.7= 3.0.8= 3.0.9= 3.0.10= 3.0.11
Ruby On RailsApplication
= 3.0.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Rails versionRun 'gem list rails' or check the Gemfile.lock for the rails gem versionAffected if Version is 3.0.0 through 3.0.11, or specifically 3.0.4
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Locate serialize usage in application codeSearch source files for 'serialize' method calls, particularly 'serialize :column_name' declarations in modelsAffected if The application uses serialize helper to store Ruby objects in database columns
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Verify YAML as serialization formatCheck if serialize is called without a custom coder class, defaulting to YAML. Search for patterns like 'serialize :column_name' without a second argumentAffected if Serialize uses default YAML format without a custom coder class
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Check for unsafe deserialization in controllers or modelsSearch for YAML.load, YAML.load_file, or Marshal.load calls on user-supplied dataAffected if Application deserializes untrusted YAML data from user input or database
You are affected if running Rails 3.0.0-3.0.11 and your application uses the serialize helper with default YAML format to store objects that could contain malicious serialized payloads.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Ruby on Rails to version 2.3.17+ (2.x branch) or 3.1.0+ (3.x branch) to patch the unsafe YAML deserialization in the serialize helper.
Rails 3.1.0 or later (for 3.x branch); Rails 2.3.17 (for 2.x branch)
- Identify the current Rails version in use by checking the Gemfile or config/application.rb
- If running Rails 3.0.x (versions 3.0.0 through 3.0.4), plan to upgrade to Rails 3.1.0 or later
- If running Rails 2.3.x, upgrade to version 2.3.17
- Run bundle update rails in the application directory to apply the upgrade
- Verify the upgrade by running the application's test suite
- Deploy to staging environment and test functionality
- Deploy to production
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Rails
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-0277 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-0277 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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