Description
The extlib gem 0.9.15 and earlier for Ruby does not properly restrict casts of string values, which might allow remote attackers to conduct object-injection attacks and execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption) by leveraging Action Pack support for (1) YAML type conversion or (2) Symbol type conversion, a similar vulnerability to CVE-2013-0156.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | ruby-extlib | 0.9.15-3 | — |
| Debian 13 | ruby-extlib | 0.9.15-3 | — |
| Debian 12 | ruby-extlib | 0.9.15-3 | — |
| Debian 6.0 | libextlib-ruby | 0.9.13-2+deb6u1 | DLA-172-1 |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RubyGems | extlib | < 0.9.16 | 0.9.16 | GHSA-9h36-4jf2-hx53 |
Advisories 1
- DLA-172-1 libextlib-ruby - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- https://github.com/datamapper/extlib/compare/b4f98174ec35ac96f76a08d5624fad05d22879b5...4540e7102b803624cc2eade4bb8aaaa934fc31c5
- SUSE-SU-2013:0612 vendor-advisory
- https://support.cloud.engineyard.com/entries/22915701-january-14-2013-security-vulnerabilities-httparty-extlib-crack-nori-update-these-gems-immediately
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=917233