RailsApplication · Rubyonrails
CVE-2014-3482
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 · uneditedSQL injection vulnerability in activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb in the PostgreSQL adapter for Active Record in Ruby on Rails 2.x and 3.x before 3.2.19 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands by leveraging improper bitstring quoting.
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 confidenceSQL injection vulnerability in the PostgreSQL adapter for Active Record in Ruby on Rails 2.x and 3.x before 3.2.19. The vulnerability stems from improper bitstring quoting in postgresql_adapter.rb, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands through specially crafted bitstring inputs.
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
= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.4= 2.1.0= 2.1.1= 2.1.2= 2.2.0= 2.2.1= 2.2.2= 2.3.0= 2.3.1
Ruby On RailsApplication
= 2.3.17= 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
- 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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Identify Rails versionCheck the Rails version in your Gemfile or by running `rails --version` in the application root, or inspect `RAILS_GEM_VERSION` constant in configuration filesAffected if The installed Rails version is 2.x (any of 2.0.0 through 2.3.17) or 3.x before 3.2.19 (such as 3.0.4, 3.1.x, 3.2.x before 3.2.19)
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Confirm PostgreSQL adapter usageInspect your database configuration file (config/database.yml) to verify the adapter is set to 'postgresql'Affected if The application uses PostgreSQL as its database adapter
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Locate postgresql_adapter.rbFind the file in your Rails installation at activerecord/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rbAffected if The file exists in the Rails codebase and contains the bitstring quoting logic
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Check for bitstring query usageReview application code for queries that involve PostgreSQL bitstring literals (B'' syntax, such as B'0101' or bit(n) values)Affected if The application executes queries containing bitstring literals from user-influenced input
You are affected if your Rails version is 2.x or 3.x before 3.2.19 AND you use PostgreSQL with queries containing bitstring literals from potentially untrusted sources.
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 to Rails 3.2.19 or later, or migrate to a supported Rails version. For systems unable to upgrade immediately, review and restrict PostgreSQL queries that involve bitstring literals.
Fix this in Rails
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,464.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3482 — 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-2014-3482 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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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