Ruby REXML < 3.3.6 DoS vulnerability

medium Nessus Plugin ID 242630

Synopsis

The remote host has an application installed that is affected by a DoS vulnerability.

Description

The version of the REXML Ruby library installed on the remote host is prior to 3.3.6. It is, therefore, affected by a DoS vulnerability. The vulnerability lies when it parses an XML that has many deep elements that have same local name attributes.

If you need to parse untrusted XMLs with tree parser API like REXML::Document.new, you may be impacted to this vulnerability. If you use other parser APIs such as stream parser API and SAX2 parser API, this vulnerability is not affected.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade to REXML version 3.3.6 or later.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 242630

File Name: ruby_gem_rexml_CVE-2024-43398.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: windows, macosx, unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 7/23/2025

Updated: 7/23/2025

Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2024-43398

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:ruby:rexml

Required KB Items: Host/ruby/modules/enumerated

Patch Publication Date: 8/22/2024

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/22/2024

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2024-43398

IAVB: 2024-B-0124

Detections

Analytics