How severe is CVE-2017-15412?

CVE-2017-15412 has a CVSS score of 8.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2017-15412?

CVE-2017-15412 affects the following packages: nokogiri (RubyGems). Ecosystems affected: RubyGems.

How do I fix CVE-2017-15412?

Update nokogiri to 1.8.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-15412 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2017-15412 in my RubyGems dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nokogiri. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2017-15412 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.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2017-15412?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2017-15412 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2017-15412 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2017-15412, 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-2017-15412?

CVE-2017-15412 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 3.0%, placing it in the 85th 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.

When was CVE-2017-15412 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2017-15412 was published on August 28, 2018 and was last updated on April 16, 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

CVE-2017-15412

HIGH

Nokogiri gem, via libxml, is affected by DoS vulnerabilities

Also known asGHSA-r58r-74gx-6wx3

Published

Aug 28, 2018

Updated

Apr 16, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

3.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk85th percentile+0.43%

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.

Blast Radius

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

Use after free in libxml2 before 2.9.5, as used in Google Chrome prior to 63.0.3239.84 and other products, allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💎RubyGems	`nokogiri`	all versions	1.8.2

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.

Use after free in libxml2 before 2.9.5, as used in Google Chrome prior t…

bugs.chromium.orgAwesomePocJun 2020

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nokogiri. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update nokogiri to 1.8.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-15412 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2017-15412 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2017-15412. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Use after free in libxml2 before 2.9.5, as used in Google Chrome prior to 63.0.3239.84 and other products, allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2017-15412 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2017-15412 across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works