CVE-2013-0333: SQL Injection

lib/activesupport/json/backends/yaml.rb in Ruby on Rails 2.3.x before 2.3.16 and 3.0.x before 3.0.20 does not properly convert JSON data to YAML data for processing by a YAML parser, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code, conduct SQL injection attacks, or bypass authentication via crafted data that triggers unsafe decoding, a different vulnerability than CVE-2013-0156.

— MITRE

The Ruby on Rails project reports:

Vulnerability in JSON Parser in Ruby on Rails 3.0 and 2.3

There is a vulnerability in the JSON code for Ruby on Rails which allows attackers to bypass authentication systems, inject arbitrary SQL, inject and execute arbitrary code, or perform a DoS attack on a Rails application. This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2013-0333.

Versions Affected: 2.3.x, 3.0.x Not Affected: 3.1.x, 3.2.x Fixed Versions: 3.0.20, 2.3.16

Impact ------ The JSON Parsing code in Rails 2.3 and 3.0 support multiple parsing backends. One of the backends involves transforming the JSON into YAML, and passing that through the YAML parser. Using a specially crafted payload attackers can trick the backend into decoding a subset of YAML.

Note: This is a seperate vulnerability to CVE-2013-0156, if you are running a 2.3 or 3.0 application you must still take action to protect your application.

Releases -------- The 3.0.20 and 2.3.16 releases are available at the normal locations.

Workarounds ----------- To work around this vulnerability you need to switch backends to the JsonGem backend. Place this code in an application initializer:

ActiveSupport::JSON.backend = "JSONGem"

If you are running Ruby 1.8 you will need to ensure that the json or jsonpure gems are installed and in your application's Gemfile. Ruby 1.9 includes this code already.

Patches ------- To aid users who aren't able to upgrade immediately we have provided patches for the two supported release series. They are in git-am format and consist of a single changeset.

2-3-json-parser.patch - Patch for 2.3 series 3-0-json-parser.patch - Patch for 3.0 series

Please note that only the 2.3.x, 3.1.x and 3.2.x series are supported at present. Users of earlier unsupported releases are advised to upgrade as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee the continued availability of security fixes for unsupported releases.

Credits -------

Thanks to Lawrence Pit of Mirror42 for discovering the vulnerability and working responsibly with us to ensure we shipped a fix.