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Fencer Intel
medium 4.3

CVE-2012-4481 json

The safe-level feature in Ruby 1.8.7 allows context-dependent attackers to modify strings via the NameError#to_s method when operating on R…

published 2013-05-02 13 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-4410

cvss
4.3
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.9%
EPSS 1.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 80%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The safe-level feature in Ruby 1.8.7 allows context-dependent attackers to modify strings via the NameError#to_s method when operating on Ruby objects. NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2011-1005.

Patch / fix

  • ruby RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby-ri RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby-irb RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby-libs RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby-rdoc RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby-tcltk RHEL 6 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
  • ruby RHEL 5 1.8.5-27.el5
  • ruby-ri RHEL 5 1.8.5-27.el5

red hat advisories RHSA-2013:0612RHSA-2013:0129

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-2012-4481 updated cvss 4.3

ruby: Incomplete fix for CVE-2011-1005 for NameError#to_s method when used on objects

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) ruby 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-ri 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-irb 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-libs 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-mode 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-rdoc 1.8.5-27.el5, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) ruby 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-ri 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-irb 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-libs 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-mode 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-rdoc 1.8.5-27.el5, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:0129
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:0612
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Workstation (v. 5 client) ruby 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-ri 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-irb 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-libs 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-mode 1.8.5-27.el5, ruby-rdoc 1.8.5-27.el5, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:0129
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) ruby 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-ri 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-irb 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-libs 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-rdoc 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4, ruby-tcltk 1.8.7.352-10.el6_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:0612

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

1.94% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 80% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/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.