How severe is CVE-2012-6685?

CVE-2012-6685 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2012-6685?

CVE-2012-6685 affects the following packages: nokogiri (RubyGems). Ecosystems affected: RubyGems.

How do I fix CVE-2012-6685?

Update nokogiri to 1.5.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-6685 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2012-6685 in my RubyGems dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nokogiri, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2012-6685 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Is CVE-2012-6685 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2012-6685, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2012-6685?

CVE-2012-6685 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 2.2%, placing it in the 82th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2012-6685?

CVE-2012-6685 is classified as CWE-776 (CWE-776). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2012-6685 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2012-6685 was published on February 19, 2020 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

💎

💎 RubyGems

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2012-6685 — nokogiri

HIGH

CVE-2012-6685 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-776 vulnerability in nokogiri. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nokogiri — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Nokogiri is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) attack

Also known asGHSA-6wj9-77wq-jq7p

Published

Feb 19, 2020

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 1, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

2.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs82th percentile — riskier than 82% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

💎nokogiri

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Nokogiri before 1.5.4 is vulnerable to XXE attacks

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💎RubyGems	`nokogiri`	all versions	1.5.4`bundle update nokogiri --conservative`

Affected Products

8 products · 9 configurations

Application

nokogirinokogiri

< 1.5.4

range

Application

cloudforms management engineredhat

1 version

5.0

enterprise mrgredhat

1 version

2.0

Application

openshiftredhat

1 version

2.0

Application

openstackredhat

2 versions

4.06.0

Application

openstack foremanredhat

all

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Nokogiri before 1.5.4 is vulnerable to XXE attacks

github.comNVDJul 2021

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nokogiri, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nokogiri to 1.5.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2012-6685 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nokogiri before 1.5.4 is vulnerable to XXE attacks

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2012-6685 in your dependencies?

Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.5/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

None

Raw vector

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

CWE Classification

CWE-776CWE-776

Weaponization

No Nuclei template or Metasploit module yet. 1 public proof-of-concept reference is listed on this page.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

nokogiri

7.6/10

Code-Review1/10

Maintained10/10

Branch-ProtectionN/A

Assessed Oct 19, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Feb 19, 2020

First exploit

Jul 15, 2021

Last updated

Apr 10, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2012-6685

GHSA-6wj9-77wq-jq7p

References

Advisorybugzilla.redhat.com · show bug.cgi Advisorygithub.com Advisorynokogiri.org · CHANGELOG Advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE 2012 6685 Packagegithub.com · nokogiri

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is high severity — higher than any of the other 8 CVEs affecting nokogiri (highest there: moderate).

GHSA-5prr-v3j2-97mhGHSA-5v8h-3h3q-446pGHSA-8678-w3jw-xfc2GHSA-9cv2-cfxc-v4v2GHSA-p67v-3w7g-wjg7GHSA-phwj-rprq-35ppGHSA-wfpw-mmfh-qq69GHSA-wjv4-x9w8-wm3h

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedApr 10, 2026

CVE-2012-6685 — nokogiri

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2012-6685 in your dependencies?