CVE-2014-10075 — karo
CRITICALCVE-2014-10075 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-77 vulnerability in karo. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
karo Metacharacter Handling Remote Command Execution
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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
karoReal-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
The karo gem through 2.5.2 for Ruby allows Remote command injection via the host field.
A flaw in db.rb is triggered when handling metacharacters. This may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands.
In particular lines 76 and 95 (as of 2014-06-01) pass unsanitized user supplied input to the command line.
73- host = "{@configuration["user"]}@{@configuration["host"]}"
74- cmd = "ssh #{host} cat {server_db_config_file}"
75-
76: server_db_config_output = `{cmd}`
79-
--
89- def drop_and_create_local_database(local_db_config)
90- command = case local_db_config["adapter"]
91- when "mysql2"
93- when "postgresql"
95- dropdb -h #{local_db_config["host"]} -U #{local_db_config["username"]} --if-exists #{local_db_config["database"]}
If this gem is used in the context of a rails application malicious input could lead to remote command injection. As of version 2.5.2 the affected code lines have not changed.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | karo | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
karokaro_projectResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for karo, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of karo for CVE-2014-10075. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2014-10075 in your dependencies?
Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.