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CVE-2014-4975

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-11-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.9.3 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Off-by-one error in the encodes function in pack.c in Ruby 1.9.3 and earlier, and 2.x through 2.1.2, when using certain format string specifiers, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault) via vectors that trigger a stack-based buffer overflow.

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

An off-by-one error in the encodes function in Ruby's pack.c allows stack-based buffer overflow when using certain format string specifiers. This can be exploited by context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service via segmentation fault.

MitigationUpdate Ruby to version 2.1.3 or later, which contains the fix for this vulnerability.

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
RubyApplication
Affected:<= 1.9.3= 2.0= 2.0.0= 2.1= 2.1.1= 2.1.2
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Hpc NodeOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 14.10

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
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

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 if Ruby is installed
    Run 'ruby --version' or 'which ruby' to determine if Ruby is present on the system
    Affected if Ruby is not installed or not found in PATH - the system is not affected by this Ruby-specific vulnerability
  2. Identify installed Ruby version
    Run 'ruby --version' and capture the version number (e.g., ruby 2.1.2p0)
    Affected if The version falls within these affected ranges: Ruby <= 1.9.3, 2.0.x, 2.0.0, 2.1.x, 2.1.1, 2.1.2 - the system is likely affected
  3. Check for package-managed Ruby on Linux
    On Debian/Ubuntu run 'dpkg -l | grep ruby'; on RHEL run 'rpm -qa | grep ruby'
    Affected if A ruby package version matches affected versions (Debian 7/8, Ubuntu 12.04/14.04/14.10, RHEL 7.0) - the system may be affected
  4. Identify Ruby code using the pack module
    Search source code for 'require "pack"' or '.pack(' pattern using grep: 'grep -r "\.pack(" /path/to/code'
    Affected if Code uses the Pack module with format string specifiers - the encodes function in pack.c is the vulnerable code path
  5. Verify the pack function is called with specific specifiers
    Review code using the pack function to see which format specifiers are passed (e.g., 'pack("m0")' or similar base64/encoding specifiers)
    Affected if The encodes function is called through pack with certain format specifiers - this is the specific code path containing the off-by-one buffer overflow

The environment is affected if Ruby is installed with a version in the range 1.9.3 or earlier, 2.0.0 through 2.0.x, or 2.1.0 through 2.1.2, and code uses the pack module with format string specifiers that trigger the encodes function.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.9.3
Interim mitigation

Update Ruby to version 2.1.3 or later, which contains the fix for this vulnerability.

Fix this in Ruby Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

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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-2014-4975 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