CVE-2024-38366
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 · uneditedtrunk.cocoapods.org is the authentication server for the CoacoaPods dependency manager. The part of trunk which verifies whether a user has a real email address on signup used a rfc-822 library which executes a shell command to validate the email domain MX records validity. It works via an DNS MX. This lookup could be manipulated to also execute a command on the trunk server, effectively giving root access to the server and the infrastructure. This issue was patched server-side with commit 001cc3a430e75a16307f5fd6cdff1363ad2f40f3 in September 2023. This RCE triggered a full user-session reset, as an attacker could have used this method to write to any Podspec in trunk.
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 CocoaPods trunk authentication server had a command injection vulnerability in its email validation logic. The rfc-822 library used to validate email domain MX records executed shell commands, which could be manipulated to inject and execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the server.
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< 2023-09-22CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 if you run CocoaPods trunk server infrastructureReview your deployed services and confirm you are running the CocoaPods trunk authentication server (trunk.cocoapods.org or a fork thereof)Affected if You operate or host the CocoaPods trunk server or a derivative instance
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Check the installation date or versionReview server deployment timestamps, version tags, or git commit history against the 2023-09-22 thresholdAffected if The server was deployed or last updated before September 22, 2023
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Inspect gem dependencies for vulnerable libraryExamine the Gemfile or Gemfile.lock for the rfc-822 gem (used for email validation) and note its versionAffected if The rfc-822 gem is present in the dependency list
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Examine email validation code for shell executionSearch the codebase for calls to system(), exec(), backticks, or popen that process email addresses or domain names, particularly in email validation modulesAffected if Code exists that executes shell commands using email address or domain input without proper sanitization
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Verify if patched commit is appliedCheck git history for commit 001cc3a430e75a16307f5fd6cdff1363ad2f40f3 or review the email validation implementation to confirm it no longer uses shell command executionAffected if The patch commit is not present or shell command execution in email validation still exists
You are affected if you operate the CocoaPods trunk server and your deployment predates the September 2023 patch or lacks the fix commit.
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.
dbcve · scoped2023-09-22
Ensure the server is running the patched version from commit 001cc3a430e75a16307f5fd6cdff1363ad2f40f3 (September 2023) or later, and audit similar code paths for shell command execution vulnerabilities.
- This vulnerability was already patched server-side by CocoaPods maintainers in September 2023 with commit 001cc3a430e75a16307f5fd6cdff1363ad2f40f3.
- No user action is required as trunk.cocoapods.org is a managed service.
- If you are a CocoaPods infrastructure operator deploying your own trunk instance, ensure you have applied the fix from commit 001cc3a430e75a16307f5fd6cdff1363ad2f40f3.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-38366 — 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-2024-38366 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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