CVE-2013-0285
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 · uneditedThe nori gem 2.0.x before 2.0.2, 1.1.x before 1.1.4, and 1.0.x before 1.0.3 for Ruby does not properly restrict casts of string values, which allows remote attackers to conduct object-injection attacks and execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) involving nested XML entity references, by leveraging Action Pack support for (1) YAML type conversion or (2) Symbol type conversion, a similar vulnerability to CVE-2013-0156.
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 confidenceThe nori gem for Ruby, used for XML parsing, does not properly restrict casts of string values, allowing attackers to conduct object-injection attacks via YAML or Symbol type conversion in Action Pack. This enables remote code execution or denial of service through nested XML entity references, similar to CVE-2013-0156.
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= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 1.1.0= 1.1.1= 1.1.2= 1.1.3= 1.0.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.2CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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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Locate nori gem in your projectCheck your Gemfile or Gemfile.lock for the 'nori' gem entry, or run `gem list nori` to list installed versionsAffected if nori gem is present in your Ruby project
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Identify nori gem versionRun `gem list nori` or check the version line in your Gemfile.lock for the nori entry. Compare against affected versions: 1.0.0-1.0.2, 1.1.0-1.1.3, or 2.0.0-2.0.1Affected if installed version matches any of: 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 2.0.0, or 2.0.1
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Verify Action Pack integrationCheck if your Rails application uses nori for XML parsing. Look for `Nori.parse` calls in controllers, models, or parsers configuration, or check if ActiveSupport::XmlMini_Nori is loadedAffected if nori is used as an XML parser backend in your Rails or Action Pack setup
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Check YAML/Symbol type conversion configurationInspect your Rails configuration files for any settings related to `ActiveSupport::XmlMini` or YAML/Symbol deserialization. Look for custom parser configuration that may allow unsafe type conversionAffected if XML parsing in Action Pack is configured to use nori and type conversion is not explicitly restricted
Your environment is affected if nori gem version 1.0.0-1.0.2, 1.1.0-1.1.3, or 2.0.0-2.0.1 is installed and used for XML parsing in Rails Action Pack with YAML or Symbol type conversion enabled.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade nori to version 2.0.2, 1.1.4, or 1.0.3 or later. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, disable or restrict YAML and Symbol type conversion in Action Pack.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-0285 — 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-2013-0285 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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