CVE-2020-8163
HIGHCVE-2020-8163 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Code Injection vulnerability in actionview. 6 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-8163 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Remote code execution via user-provided local names in ActionView
Blast Radius
actionviewReal-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 is a code injection vulnerability in versions of Rails prior to 5.0.1 that wouldallow an attacker who controlled the locals argument of a render call to perform a RCE.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | actionview | all versions | 4.2.11.3 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Rails 5.0.1 - Remote Code Execution
by Lucas Amorim · Jul 26, 2020
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for actionview. 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 actionview to 4.2.11.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-8163 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-2020-8163 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-2020-8163. 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-2020-8163 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-8163 across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.