Overly broad permissions can turn one compromised account into a much larger security problem. Learn how to reduce unnecessary access, review privileges, and apply least privilege across modern Linux systems. Review Linux Privileges×

Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 515
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 515

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 RHSA-2012:0069 Moderate: Ruby DoS Threat

red hat
Calendar Grey January 30, 2012
Scroller Redhat
Enhanced Ruby modules for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 resolve a significant security concern affecting array operations.
Updated ruby packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Summary

Ruby is an extensible, interpreted, object-oriented, scripting language. It has features to process text files and to do system management tasks.
A denial of service flaw was found in the implementation of associative arrays (hashes) in Ruby. An attacker able to supply a large number of inputs to a Ruby application (such as HTTP POST request parameters sent to a web application) that are used as keys when inserting data into an array could trigger multiple hash function collisions, making array operations take an excessive amount of CPU time. To mitigate this issue, randomization has been added to the hash function to reduce the chance of an attacker successfully causing intentional collisions. (CVE-2011-4815)
Red Hat would like to thank oCERT for reporting this issue. oCERT acknowledges Julian Wälde and Alexander Klink as the original reporters.
All users of ruby are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to resolve this issue.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory moderate DoS Red Hat Enterprise Ruby hash function collision

References

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-4815 https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification#moderate http://ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2011-003.html

Package List

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6):
Source:
i386: ruby-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-irb-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-libs-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm
x86_64: ruby-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-irb-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-libs-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-libs-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6):
Source:
i386: ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-devel-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-docs-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-rdoc-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-ri-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-static-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-tcltk-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm
x86_64: ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-devel-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm ruby-devel-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-docs-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-rdoc-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-ri-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-static-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-tcltk-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm
Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6):
Source:
x86_64: ruby-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.x86_64.rpm ruby-debuginfo-1.8.7.352-4.el6_2.i686.rpm

Read the Full Advisory


Advisory ID: RHSA-2012:0069-01
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Advisory URL: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012:0069.html
Issue date: 2012-01-30

Topic

Updated ruby packages that fix one security issue are now available forRed Hat Enterprise Linux 6.The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having moderatesecurity impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link inthe References section.

Topics%20covered

Topics Covered

security advisory moderate DoS Red Hat Enterprise Ruby hash function collision

Relevant Releases Architectures

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) - x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

Bugs Fixed

750564 - CVE-2011-4815 ruby: hash table collisions CPU usage DoS (oCERT-2011-003)

Get the latest News and Insights

Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.