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CVE-2012-5370

First published: Tue Nov 27 2012(Updated: )

A denial of service flaw was found in the JRuby's Murmur hash function implementation. A specially-crafted set of keys could trigger Murmur hash function collisions, which degrade hash table items insert performance by changing hash table operations complexity from an expected/average O(n) to the worst case O(n^2). Reporters were able to find colliding strings efficiently using equivalent substrings. As various web application frameworks for Ruby automatically pre-fill certain arrays with data from the HTTP request (such as GET or POST parameters) for Ruby web applications, a remote attacker could use this flaw to make the Ruby interpreter use an excessive amount of CPU time by sending a POST request with a large number parameters which hash to the same value. A different vulnerability than <a href="https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-4838">CVE-2011-4838</a>. References: [1] <a href="http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/23/4">http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/23/4</a> [2] <a href="http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2012-001.html">http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2012-001.html</a> [3] <a href="http://2012.appsec-forum.ch/conferences/#c17">http://2012.appsec-forum.ch/conferences/#c17</a> [4] <a href="https://www.131002.net/data/talks/appsec12_slides.pdf">https://www.131002.net/data/talks/appsec12_slides.pdf</a> [5] <a href="http://asfws12.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/asfws2012-jean_philippe_aumasson-martin_bosslet-hash_flooding_dos_reloaded.pdf">http://asfws12.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/asfws2012-jean_philippe_aumasson-martin_bosslet-hash_flooding_dos_reloaded.pdf</a>

Credit: cve@mitre.org

Affected SoftwareAffected VersionHow to fix
maven/org.jruby:jruby-parent<1.7.1
1.7.1
redhat/JRuby<1.7.1
1.7.1
Rubygems

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Reference Links

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the severity of CVE-2012-5370?

    CVE-2012-5370 is classified as a denial of service vulnerability.

  • How do I fix CVE-2012-5370?

    To address CVE-2012-5370, upgrade your JRuby version to 1.7.1 or later.

  • What impact does CVE-2012-5370 have on performance?

    CVE-2012-5370 can significantly degrade hash table performance due to increased collisions.

  • What versions of JRuby are affected by CVE-2012-5370?

    CVE-2012-5370 affects all versions of JRuby prior to 1.7.1.

  • Is CVE-2012-5370 specific to any operating system?

    CVE-2012-5370 affects the JRuby implementation across all operating systems that use vulnerable versions.

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