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Fencer Intel
medium 5.0

CVE-2011-1005 json

The safe-level feature in Ruby 1.8.6 through 1.8.6-420, 1.8.7 through 1.8.7-330, and 1.8.8dev allows context-dependent attackers to modify…

published 2011-03-02 15 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-1022

cvss
5.0
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.8%
EPSS 2.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 86%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The safe-level feature in Ruby 1.8.6 through 1.8.6-420, 1.8.7 through 1.8.7-330, and 1.8.8dev allows context-dependent attackers to modify strings via the Exception#to_s method, as demonstrated by changing an intended pathname.

Patch / fix

  • ruby RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby-ri RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby-irb RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby-libs RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby-rdoc RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby-tcltk RHEL 6 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
  • ruby RHEL 5 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1
  • ruby-ri RHEL 5 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1

red hat advisories RHSA-2011:0910RHSA-2011:0909RHSA-2011:0908

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2011-1005 updated cvss 4.3

Ruby: Untrusted codes able to modify arbitrary strings

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5.6.z server) ruby 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, ruby-ri 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, ruby-irb 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, ruby-libs 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, ruby-mode 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, ruby-rdoc 1.8.5-19.el5_6.1, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0909
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 irb 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-libs 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-mode 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.1-16.el4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 irb 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-libs 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-mode 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.1-16.el4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 irb 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-libs 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-mode 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.1-16.el4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0908
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-ri 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-irb 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-libs 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-ri 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-irb 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-libs 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.299-7.el6_1.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0910
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 irb 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-libs 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-mode 1.8.1-16.el4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.1-16.el4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0908

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.77% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 86% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • ruby-lang.org http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2011/02/18/exception-methods-can-bypass-safe/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-264 Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.