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CVE-2022-36073· NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

RubyGems allows creation of users with arbitrary unverified emails

RubyGems.org is the Ruby community gem host. A bug in password & email change confirmation code allowed an attacker to change their RubyGems.org account's email to an unowned email address. Having access to an account whose email has been changed could enable an attacker to save API keys for that account, and when a legitimate user attempts to create an account with their email (and has to reset password to gain access) and is granted access to other gems, the attacker would then be able to publish and yank versions of those gems. Commit number 90c9e6aac2d91518b479c51d48275c57de492d4d contains a patch for this issue.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Sep 7, 2022
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
1.0% · 62th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

35

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.0%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
8.8
CNA · GitHub_M
8.3
0.5 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Affected systems

VendorProduct
rubygemsrubygems

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • rubygems rubygemsbefore 2022-08-31

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • rubygems rubygems.org

    • < 90c9e6aac2d91518b479c51d48275c57de492d4daffected

Same product

rubygems: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2017-0903RubyGems versions between 2.0.0 and 2.6.13 are vulnerable to a possible remote code execution vulnerability.
    44Plan
  • CVE-2017-0899RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier is vulnerable to maliciously crafted gem specifications that include terminal escape characters.
    42Plan
  • CVE-2018-1000076RubyGems version Ruby 2.2 series: 2.2.9 and earlier, Ruby 2.3 series: 2.3.6 and earlier, Ruby 2.4 series: 2.4.3 and earlier, Ruby 2.5 series
    40Plan
  • CVE-2017-0901RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier fails to validate specification names, allowing a maliciously crafted gem to potentially overwrite any f
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2019-8324An issue was discovered in RubyGems 2.6 and later through 3.0.2.
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2017-0902RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier is vulnerable to a DNS hijacking vulnerability that allows a MITM attacker to force the RubyGems client
    33Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-287 · Improper Authentication

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

Authentication is added route by route instead of being enforced in one place. When a route added later bypasses the shared middleware, the session check never runs for it.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-287 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
app.use("/admin", requireSession, adminRouter);
// Route added later skips the middlewareapp.post("/admin-api/config", updateConfig);

Fixed

ts
const admin = express.Router();admin.use(requireSession, requireRole("admin"));
admin.post("/config", updateConfig);app.use("/admin", admin);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records