CVE-2024-35176

REXML is an XML toolkit for Ruby. The REXML gem before 3.2.6 has a denial of service vulnerability when it parses an XML that has many <s in an attribute value. Those who need to parse untrusted XMLs may be impacted to this vulnerability. The REXML gem 3.2.7 or later include the patch to fix this vulnerability. As a workaround, dont parse untrusted XMLs.

Weakness

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:

• The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.

• The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/147.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/227.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/492.html

References

• https://github.com/ruby/rexml/commit/4325835f92f3f142ebd91a3fdba4e1f1ab7f1cfb
• https://github.com/ruby/rexml/security/advisories/GHSA-vg3r-rm7w-2xgh
• https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2024/05/16/dos-rexml-cve-2024-35176
• https://github.com/ruby/rexml/commit/4325835f92f3f142ebd91a3fdba4e1f1ab7f1cfb
• https://github.com/ruby/rexml/security/advisories/GHSA-vg3r-rm7w-2xgh
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00011.html
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250306-0001/
• https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2024/05/16/dos-rexml-cve-2024-35176