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CVE-2017-0898: Ruby before 2.4.2, 2.3.5, and 2.2.8 is vulnerable to a malicious format string which contains a precious sp...

Ruby before 2.4.2, 2.3.5, and 2.2.8 is vulnerable to a malicious format string which contains a precious specifier (*) with a huge minus value. Such situation can lead to a buffer overrun, resulting in a heap memory corruption or an information disclosure from the heap.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Older Ruby runtimes can mishandle a malicious format string and corrupt heap memory or expose heap data. The business risk is highest where applications format attacker-controlled input. The provided sources show vendor fixes and distribution advisories, but no evidence of known active exploitation.

Executive priority

Treat this as a high-priority legacy runtime remediation item, not an emergency exploitation response. Patch exposed or user-input-processing Ruby applications first, then remove unsupported Ruby versions from the environment.

Technical view

CVE-2017-0898 is a CWE-134 format string issue in Ruby before 2.4.2, 2.3.5, and 2.2.8. A crafted format string using a precision specifier with a huge negative value can cause heap memory corruption or heap information disclosure.

Likely exposure

Exposure is likely in systems running affected Ruby versions, especially web services, jobs, or tools that pass untrusted input into Ruby format-string functions. Distribution packages from Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, and Gentoo had security advisories.

Exploitation context

The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or another cited source confirming active exploitation. Practical risk depends on whether an attacker can influence the vulnerable format string, not just ordinary formatted values.

Researcher notes

The source bundle lacks CVSS scoring and detailed exploit-status evidence. Validate exposure by pairing runtime version data with data-flow review: attacker control of the format string is the key condition for reachable impact.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade Ruby to 2.4.2, 2.3.5, 2.2.8, or vendor-fixed packages.
  • Apply relevant OS vendor security updates for packaged Ruby builds.
  • Check Ruby upstream and distribution advisories for supported fixed versions.
  • Retire unsupported Ruby branches where vendor security fixes are unavailable.
  • Review code paths that use attacker-controlled format strings.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Ruby versions across hosts, containers, CI images, and developer tooling.
  • Confirm package changelogs include the relevant vendor security fix.
  • Search application code for formatting APIs receiving user-controlled format strings.
  • Prioritize internet-facing services and request-processing paths first.
  • Record exceptions where Ruby is bundled inside third-party appliances or images.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
10

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-134: Exact CWE lookup

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2017-0898 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
12Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
HackerOneRubyVersions before 2.4.2, 2.3.5, and 2.2.8Listed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-134

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-134 · source CWE mapping

Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

Use of Externally-Controlled Format String represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

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