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Directory traversal vulnerability in Action View in Ruby on Rails

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Oct 24, 2017 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Oct 22, 2025

Package

bundleractionpack (RubyGems)

Affected versions

>= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.14.0
>= 4.2.0, <= 4.2.5.0
< 3.2.22.1

Patched versions

4.1.14.1
4.2.5.1
3.2.22.1
bundleractionview (RubyGems)
>= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.14.0
>= 4.2.0, <= 4.2.5.0
4.1.14.1
4.2.5.1

Description

Directory traversal vulnerability in Action View in Ruby on Rails before 3.2.22.1, 4.0.x and 4.1.x before 4.1.14.1, 4.2.x before 4.2.5.1, and 5.x before 5.0.0.beta1.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files by leveraging an application's unrestricted use of the render method and providing a .. (dot dot) in a pathname.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability DatabaseFeb 16, 2016
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Oct 24, 2017
Reviewed Jun 16, 2020
Last updated Oct 22, 2025

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

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

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector:More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity:More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required:More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction:More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope:More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality:More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity:More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability:More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(100th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2016-0752

GHSA ID

GHSA-xrr4-p6fq-hjg7

Source code

No known source code
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