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GHSA-xxx9-3xcr-gjj3

XML Injection in Xerces Java affects Nokogiri

Medium RubyGems
Severity
6.5 / 10
Medium · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
—
No score published
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-91 XML Injection (aka Blind XPath Injection)
Fix
1.13.4
Upgrade nokogiri to this version or later

Description

Summary

Nokogiri v1.13.4 updates the vendored xerces:xercesImpl from 2.12.0 to 2.12.2, which addresses CVE-2022-23437. That CVE is scored as CVSS 6.5 "Medium" on the NVD record.

Please note that this advisory only applies to the JRuby implementation of Nokogiri < 1.13.4.

Mitigation

Upgrade to Nokogiri >= v1.13.4.

Impact

CVE-2022-23437 in xerces-J

  • Severity: Medium
  • Type: CWE-91 XML Injection (aka Blind XPath Injection)
  • Description: There's a vulnerability within the Apache Xerces Java (XercesJ) XML parser when handling specially crafted XML document payloads. This causes, the XercesJ XML parser to wait in an infinite loop, which may sometimes consume system resources for prolonged duration. This vulnerability is present within XercesJ version 2.12.1 and the previous versions.
  • See also: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-h65f-jvqw-m9fj

Affected versions

RubyGems

PackageVulnerableFixed in
nokogiri
< 1.13.4
1.13.4

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

nokogiri RubyGems → 1.13.4

bundler
bundle update nokogiri # Gemfile: gem "nokogiri", ">= 1.13.4"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 6.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Weakness

CWE-91: XML Injection (aka Blind XPath Injection)

The product does not properly neutralize special elements that are used in XML, allowing attackers to modify the syntax, content, or commands of the XML before it is processed by an end system.

How to prevent it
  • Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-phwj-rprq-35pp
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free when setting an attribute value via `Nokogiri::XML::Attr#value=` or `#content=`
High Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-wfpw-mmfh-qq69
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free in XInclude Processing
Low Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-p67v-3w7g-wjg7
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free when directly using `NokogirI::XML::XPathContext` beyond document lifetime
Medium Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free when setting `Document#root=` to an invalid node type
Medium Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-5prr-v3j2-97mh
Nokogiri: Possible Out-of-Bounds Read in `Nokogiri::XML::NodeSet#[]`
High Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-9cv2-cfxc-v4v2
Nokogiri: Null Pointer Dereference calling methods on uninitialized wrapper classes
High Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-8678-w3jw-xfc2
Nokogiri: XML::Schema on JRuby allows network requests when NONET is set, bypassing CVE-2020-26247
Low Also affects nokogiri
GHSA-5v8h-3h3q-446p
Nokogiri: Possible Use-After-Free when `Nokogiri::XML::Document#encoding=` raises an exception
High Also affects nokogiri
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