CVE-2015-5147
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 · uneditedStack-based buffer overflow in the header_anchor function in the HTML renderer in Redcarpet before 3.3.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceStack-based buffer overflow in the header_anchor function in Redcarpet's HTML renderer allows attackers to cause denial of service (crash) and potentially execute arbitrary code via crafted Markdown input processed through the HTML rendering pipeline.
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<= 3.3.1CVSS 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 installed Redcarpet gem versionRun 'gem list redcarpet' or inspect your Gemfile.lock for the redcarpet gem version entryAffected if The listed version is 3.3.1 or lower
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Confirm Redcarpet HTML rendering is in useSearch your codebase for 'Redcarpet::HTML' or calls to Redcarpet's render method that process Markdown into HTML outputAffected if Your application uses Redcarpet to render Markdown as HTML
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Verify Markdown input contains headersReview the Markdown content being processed through Redcarpet to see if it includes header syntax (# through ######)Affected if The Markdown input being rendered contains header elements
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Determine if input source is untrustedTrace the Markdown input path to identify if data comes from user submissions, external APIs, or other untrusted sources versus trusted internal contentAffected if Untrusted or user-supplied Markdown is passed to the Redcarpet HTML renderer
You are affected if you are running Redcarpet version 3.3.1 or earlier AND processing Markdown with headers through the HTML rendering pipeline, especially if the input is untrusted.
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 dataUpdate the Redcarpet gem to version 3.3.2 or later which contains the patched header_anchor function.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5147 — 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-2015-5147 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data