There is a possible escalation to RCE when using YAML serialized columns in Active Record. This vulnerability has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2022-32224.

Versions Affected: All. Not affected: None Fixed Versions: 7.0.3.1, 6.1.6.1, 6.0.5.1, 5.2.8.1

Impact

When serialized columns that use YAML (the default) are deserialized, Rails uses YAML.unsafe_load to convert the YAML data in to Ruby objects. If an attacker can manipulate data in the database (via means like SQL injection), then it may be possible for the attacker to escalate to an RCE.

Impacted Active Record models will look something like this:

class User < ApplicationRecord
  serialize :options       # Vulnerable: Uses YAML for serialization
  serialize :values, Array # Vulnerable: Uses YAML for serialization
  serialize :values, JSON  # Not vulnerable
end

All users running an affected release should either upgrade or use one of the workarounds immediately.

Releases

The FIXED releases are available at the normal locations.

The released versions change the default YAML deserializer to use YAML.safe_load, which prevents deserialization of possibly dangerous objects. This may introduce backwards compatibility issues with existing data.

In order to cope with that situation, the released version also contains two new Active Record configuration options. The configuration options are as follows:

• config.active_record.use_yaml_unsafe_load

When set to true, this configuration option tells Rails to use the old "unsafe" YAML loading strategy, maintaining the existing behavior but leaving the possible escalation vulnerability in place. Setting this option to true is not recommended, but can aid in upgrading.

• config.active_record.yaml_column_permitted_classes

The "safe YAML" loading method does not allow all classes to be deserialized by default. This option allows you to specify classes deemed "safe" in your application. For example, if your application uses Symbol and Time in serialized data, you can add Symbol and Time to the allowed list as follows:

config.active_record.yaml_column_permitted_classes = [Symbol, Date, Time]

Workarounds

There are no feasible workarounds for this issue, but other coders (such as JSON) are not impacted.

There is a potential denial of service vulnerability present in ActiveRecord’s PostgreSQL adapter.

This has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2022-44566.

Versions Affected: All. Not affected: None. Fixed Versions: 5.2.8.15 (Rails LTS), 6.1.7.1, 7.0.4.1

Impact

In ActiveRecord <7.0.4.1 and <6.1.7.1, when a value outside the range for a 64bit signed integer is provided to the PostgreSQL connection adapter, it will treat the target column type as numeric. Comparing integer values against numeric values can result in a slow sequential scan resulting in potential Denial of Service.

Workarounds

Ensure that user supplied input which is provided to ActiveRecord clauses do not contain integers wider than a signed 64bit representation or floats.

There is a vulnerability when Active Record is used in conjunction with JSON parameter parsing. This vulnerability is similar to CVE-2012-2660, CVE-2012-2694 and CVE-2013-0155.

Impact

Due to the way Active Record interprets parameters in combination with the way that JSON parameters are parsed, it is possible for an attacker to issue unexpected database queries with "IS NULL" or empty where clauses. This issue does not let an attacker insert arbitrary values into an SQL query, however they can cause the query to check for NULL or eliminate a WHERE clause when most users wouldn't expect it.

For example, a system has password reset with token functionality:

    unless params[:token].nil?
      user = User.find_by_token(params[:token])
      user.reset_password!
    end

An attacker can craft a request such that params[:token] will return [nil]. The [nil] value will bypass the test for nil, but will still add an "IN ('xyz', NULL)" clause to the SQL query.

Similarly, an attacker can craft a request such that params[:token] will return an empty hash. An empty hash will eliminate the WHERE clause of the query, but can bypass the nil? check.

Note that this impacts not only dynamic finders (find_by_*) but also relations (User.where(:name => params[:name])).

All users running an affected release should either upgrade or use one of the work arounds immediately. All users running an affected release should upgrade immediately. Please note, this vulnerability is a variant of CVE-2012-2660, CVE-2012-2694, and CVE-2013-0155. Even if you upgraded to address those issues, you must take action again.

If this chance in behavior impacts your application, you can manually decode the original values from the request like so:

`ActiveSupport::JSON.decode(request.body)`

Workarounds

This problem can be mitigated by casting the parameter to a string before passing it to Active Record. For example:

  unless params[:token].nil? || params[:token].to_s.empty?
    user = User.find_by_token(params[:token].to_s)
    user.reset_password!
  end