Ruby: Denial of Service vulnerability

Background

Ruby is a dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity.

Description

The read_multipart function of the CGI library shipped with Ruby (cgi.rb) does not properly check boundaries in MIME multipart content. This is a different issue than GLSA 200611-12.

Impact

The vulnerability can be exploited by sending the cgi.rb library a crafted HTTP request with multipart MIME encoding that contains a malformed MIME boundary specifier. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability causes the library to go into an infinite loop.

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Ruby users should upgrade to the latest version:

 # emerge --sync
 # emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=dev-lang/ruby-1.8.5_p2"