How severe is CVE-2017-0901?

CVE-2017-0901 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2017-0901?

CVE-2017-0901 affects the following packages: rubygems-update (RubyGems). Ecosystems affected: RubyGems.

How do I fix CVE-2017-0901?

Update rubygems-update to 2.6.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-0901 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2017-0901 in my RubyGems dependencies?

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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2017-0901 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.

Is CVE-2017-0901 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 3 known exploit references for CVE-2017-0901, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 2 in-the-wild exploitations 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-2017-0901?

CVE-2017-0901 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 29.4%, placing it in the 98th 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 warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2017-0901?

CVE-2017-0901 is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), Improper Input Validation (CWE-20). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2017-0901 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2017-0901 was published on August 31, 2017 and was last updated on October 20, 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-2017-0901 — rubygems-update

HIGHFix: rubygems/rubygems@ad5c0a5

CVE-2017-0901 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in rubygems-update. 3 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for rubygems-update — see the affected versions and patch details below.

RubyGems may allow a maliciously crafted gem to overwrite files

Also known asGHSA-pm9x-4392-2c2p

Published

Aug 31, 2017

Updated

Oct 20, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

3 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

29.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Moderate Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs98th percentile — riskier than 98% 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

💎rubygems-update

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

RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier fails to validate specification names, allowing a maliciously crafted gem to potentially overwrite any file on the filesystem.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💎RubyGems	`rubygems-update`	all versions	2.6.13`bundle update rubygems-update --conservative`

Affected Products

9 products · 16 configurations

ubuntu linuxcanonical

3 versions

14.0416.0417.10

debian linuxdebian

2 versions

8.09.0

enterprise linux desktopredhat

1 version

7.0

enterprise linux serverredhat

1 version

7.0

enterprise linux server ausredhat

2 versions

7.47.6

enterprise linux server eusredhat

3 versions

7.47.57.6

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.

EDB-42611locallinux✓ Verified

RubyGems < 2.6.13 - Arbitrary File Overwrite

by mame · Sep 4, 2017

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
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 2.6.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-0901 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatModerate

This issue affects the versions of ruby as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, and 7 and the versions of rh-ruby22-ruby and rh-ruby23-ruby as shipped with Red Hat Software Collections. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having Moderate security impact. A future update may address this issue. For…

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	`ruby-0:2.0.0.648-33.el7_4`	RHSA-2018:0378
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	`rh-ruby24-ruby-0:2.4.2-86.el6`	RHSA-2017:3485
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	`rh-ruby22-ruby-0:2.2.9-19.el6`	RHSA-2018:0583
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	`rh-ruby23-ruby-0:2.3.6-67.el6`	RHSA-2018:0585

Frequently Asked Questions

RubyGems version 2.6.12 and earlier fails to validate specification names, allowing a maliciously crafted gem to potentially overwrite any file on the filesystem.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2017-0901 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

None

Integrity

High

Availability

None

Raw vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CWE Classification

CWE-22Path Traversal CWE-20Improper Input Validation

Weaponization

No Nuclei template or Metasploit module yet. 3 public proof-of-concept references are listed on this page.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

rubygems

7.4/10

Maintained10/10

Code-Review1/10

Dependency-Update-Tool10/10

Branch-ProtectionN/A

Vulnerabilities10/10

Assessed Oct 14, 2025

Timeline

Disclosed

Aug 31, 2017

First exploit

Sep 4, 2017

3 days after disclosure — rapid exploitation

Last updated

Oct 20, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2017-0901

GHSA-pm9x-4392-2c2p

Related vulnerabilities

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

CVE-2012-2125CVE-2012-2126CVE-2013-4363CVE-2015-4020CVE-2018-1000078CVE-2018-1000079CVE-2013-4287CVE-2018-1000077

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 20, 2026

CVE-2017-0901 — rubygems-update

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

Fixing This On Your OS

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2017-0901 in your dependencies?