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RailsApplication · Rubyonrails

CVE-2014-3514

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-08-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb in Active Record in Ruby on Rails 4.0.x before 4.0.9 and 4.1.x before 4.1.5 allows remote attackers to bypass the strong parameters protection mechanism via crafted input to an application that makes create_with calls.

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 confidence

In Rails 4.0.x before 4.0.9 and 4.1.x before 4.1.5, the Active Record query_methods.rb contains a flaw where create_with calls can be manipulated to bypass the strong parameters protection mechanism. This allows remote attackers to inject unintended attributes into mass-assignment operations by crafting specific input parameters.

MitigationUpgrade Ruby on Rails to version 4.0.9 or later (4.0.x) or 4.1.5 or later (4.1.x). Additionally, review any usage of create_with to ensure untrusted user input is not directly passed to it.

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
Affected:= 4.0.0= 4.0.1= 4.0.2= 4.0.3= 4.0.4= 4.0.5= 4.0.6= 4.0.7= 4.0.8= 4.1.0= 4.1.1= 4.1.2

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Rails version
    Run `rails --version` or check the Gemfile.lock for the Rails gem version
    Affected if The version is 4.0.0 through 4.0.8 or 4.1.0 through 4.1.4
  2. Find create_with usage
    Search the codebase for `create_with` method calls, for example using `grep -r "create_with" app/` or equivalent
    Affected if The method is used anywhere in the application code
  3. Inspect create_with implementation
    Examine each create_with call to see if it accepts user-supplied input directly, for example `Model.create_with(params[:user])`
    Affected if Untrusted user parameters are passed directly to create_with without filtering

A user is affected if they run Rails 4.0.0-4.0.8 or 4.1.0-4.1.4 and their code passes unsanitized user input to the create_with method.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Ruby on Rails to version 4.0.9 or later (4.0.x) or 4.1.5 or later (4.1.x). Additionally, review any usage of create_with to ensure untrusted user input is not directly passed to it.

Fix this in Rails Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3514 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data