stimulus_reflex is a system to extend the capabilities of both Rails and Stimulus by intercepting user interactions and passing them to Rails over real-time websockets. In affected versions more methods than expected can be called on reflex instances. Being able to call some of them has security implications. To invoke a reflex a websocket message of the following shape is sent: target:[class_name]#[method_name],args:[]
. The server will proceed to instantiate reflex
using the provided class_name
as long as it extends StimulusReflex::Reflex
. It then attempts to call method_name
on the instance with the provided arguments. This is problematic as reflex.method method_name
can be more methods that those explicitly specified by the developer in their reflex class. A good example is the instance_variable_set method. This vulnerability has been patched in versions 3.4.2 and 3.5.0.rc4. Users unable to upgrade should: see the backing GHSA advisory for mitigation advice.
The product uses external input with reflection to select which classes or code to use, but it does not sufficiently prevent the input from selecting improper classes or code.