CVE-2021-43809
MediumCVSS 6.7Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
High risk87th percentile - higher than 87% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability in Bundler versions before 2.2.33 allows arbitrary code execution when processing untrusted Gemfile. If a Gemfile contains a git dependency with a URL starting with a dash (e.g., '-u./payload'), Bundler may interpret it as a git clone option, leading to code execution.
Risk Assessment
This could potentially lead to system takeover, but exploitability is very low as it requires significant user interaction (sharing a malicious directory and the victim running a command).
Recommendation
Upgrade Bundler to version 2.2.33 or later. Always review untrusted Gemfiles before running any Bundler commands.
Other vulnerabilities in Bundler
See all- CVE-2020-36327High
Bundler 1.16.0 through 2.2.9 and 2.2.11 through 2.2.16 sometimes chooses a dependency source based on the highest gem version number, meaning a rogue gem from a public source may be chosen even if the intended choice was a private gem.
- CVE-2016-7954Critical
Bundler 1.x may allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary Ruby code into an application by leveraging a gem name collision on a secondary source.
Original NVD description (English source)
`Bundler` is a package for managing application dependencies in Ruby. In `bundler` versions before 2.2.33, when working with untrusted and apparently harmless `Gemfile`'s, it is not expected that they lead to execution of external code, unless that's explicit in the ruby code inside the `Gemfile` itself. However, if the `Gemfile` includes `gem` entries that use the `git` option with invalid, but seemingly harmless, values with a leading dash, this can be false. To handle dependencies that come from a Git repository instead of a registry, Bundler uses various commands, such as `git clone`. These commands are being constructed using user input (e.g. the repository URL). When building the commands, Bundler versions before 2.2.33 correctly avoid Command Injection vulnerabilities by passing an array of arguments instead of a command string. However, there is the possibility that a user input starts with a dash (`-`) and is therefore treated as an optional argument instead of a positional one. This can lead to Code Execution because some of the commands have options that can be leveraged to run arbitrary executables. Since this value comes from the `Gemfile` file, it can contain any character, including a leading dash. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker has to craft a directory containing a `Gemfile` file that declares a dependency that is located in a Git repository. This dependency has to have a Git URL in the form of `-u./payload`. This URL will be used to construct a Git clone command but will be interpreted as the upload-pack argument. Then this directory needs to be shared with the victim, who then needs to run a command that evaluates the Gemfile, such as `bundle lock`, inside. This vulnerability can lead to Arbitrary Code Execution, which could potentially lead to the takeover of the system. However, the exploitability is very low, because it requires a lot of user interaction. Bundler 2.2.33 has patched this problem by inserting `--` as an argument before any positional arguments to those Git commands that were affected by this issue. Regardless of whether users can upgrade or not, they should review any untrustred `Gemfile`'s before running any `bundler` commands that may read them, since they can contain arbitrary ruby code.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

