CVE-2025-61921: Sinatra has ReDoS vulnerability in ETag header value generation

Published Oct 10, 2025
·
Updated

Summary

There is a denial of service vulnerability in the If-Match and If-None-Match header parsing component of Sinatra, if the etag method is used when constructing the response and you are using Ruby < 3.2.

Details

Carefully crafted input can cause If-Match and If-None-Match header parsing in Sinatra to take an unexpected amount of time, possibly resulting in a denial of service attack vector. This header is typically involved in generating the ETag header value. Any applications that use the etag method when generating a response are impacted if they are using Ruby below version 3.2.

Resources

https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/issues/2120 (report) https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/pull/2121 (fix) https://github.com/sinatra/sinatra/pull/1823 (older ReDoS vulnerability) https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/19104 (fix in Ruby >= 3.2)

Other sources

Sinatra is a domain-specific language for creating web applications in Ruby. In versions prior to 4.2.0, there is a denial of service vulnerability in the If-Match and If-None-Match header parsing component of Sinatra, if the etag method is used when constructing the response. Carefully crafted input can cause If-Match and If-None-Match header parsing in Sinatra to take an unexpected amount of time, possibly resulting in a denial of service attack vector. This header is typically involved in generating the ETag header value. Any applications that use the etag method when generating a response are impacted. Version 4.2.0 fixes the issue.

MITRE

Affected Software

4 affected componentsFixes available
Sinatra Sinatra<4.2.0
rubygems/sinatra<4.2.0
4.2.0
Sinatrarb Sinatra<4.2.0
debian/ruby-sinatra<=2.0.8.1-2, <=2.0.8.1-2+deb11u1, <=4.1.1-5
3.0.5-3+deb12u14.2.1-5

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade rubygems/sinatra to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 4.2.0
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/ruby-sinatra to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 3.0.5-3+deb12u1Fixed in 4.2.1-5
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade sinatra to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 4.2.0
  4. Upgrade

    Upgrade ruby to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 3.2

Event History

Oct 10, 2025
CVE Published
via MITRE·07:28 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·07:28 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Data Sourced
via NVD·08:15 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
Advisory Published
via GitHub·08:28 PM
Data Sourced
via GitHub·08:28 PM
DescriptionWeaknessAffected Software
Jul 30, 2026
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·02:19 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Data Sourced
via Debian·02:20 PM
DescriptionAffected Software
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·02:20 PM
Description
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2025-61921?

CVE-2025-61921 is classified as a denial of service vulnerability.

2

How do I fix CVE-2025-61921?

To fix CVE-2025-61921, update Sinatra to version 4.2.0 or later.

3

What components are affected by CVE-2025-61921?

CVE-2025-61921 affects the `If-Match` and `If-None-Match` header parsing in Sinatra versions before 4.2.0.

4

What versions of Sinatra are impacted by CVE-2025-61921?

Sinatra versions prior to 4.2.0 are impacted by CVE-2025-61921.

5

What should I do if I cannot upgrade Sinatra to fix CVE-2025-61921?

If you cannot upgrade Sinatra, consider implementing additional security measures to mitigate denial of service attacks.

Contact

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