CVE-2013-4363 — rubygems-update
CVE-2013-4363 is a CWE-310 vulnerability in rubygems-update. A fix is available for rubygems-update — see the affected versions and patch details below.
RubyGems Regular Expression Denial of Service
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Real-World Exposure
rubygems-update💎rubygems-update💎rubygems-update💎rubygems-updateReal-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
Algorithmic complexity vulnerability in Gem::Version::ANCHORED_VERSION_PATTERN in lib/rubygems/version.rb in RubyGems before 1.8.23.2, 1.8.24 through 1.8.26, 2.0.x before 2.0.10, and 2.1.x before 2.1.5, as used in Ruby 1.9.0 through 2.0.0p247, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a crafted gem version that triggers a large amount of backtracking in a regular expression. NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-4287.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | rubygems-update | all versions | 1.8.23.2bundle update rubygems-update --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | rubygems-update | ≥ 1.8.24&&< 1.8.27 | 1.8.27bundle update rubygems-update --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | rubygems-update | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.10 | 2.0.10bundle update rubygems-update --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | rubygems-update | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.1.5 | 2.1.5bundle update rubygems-update --conservative |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for rubygems-update, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update rubygems-update to 1.8.23.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2013-4363 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2013-4363 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2013-4363. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2013-4363 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2013-4363 across RubyGems dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.