CVE-2022-21831 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in activestorage. A fix is available for activestorage — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Possible code injection vulnerability in Rails / Active Storage
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
activestorage💎activestorage💎activestorage💎activestorageReal-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 Active Storage module of Rails starting with version 5.2.0 is possibly vulnerable to code injection. This issue was patched in versions 5.2.6.3, 6.0.4.7, 6.1.4.7, and 7.0.2.3. To work around this issue, applications should implement a strict allow-list on accepted transformation methods or arguments. Additionally, a strict ImageMagick security policy will help mitigate this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | activestorage | ≥ 5.2.0&&< 5.2.6.3 | 5.2.6.3bundle update activestorage --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | activestorage | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.4.7 | 6.0.4.7bundle update activestorage --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | activestorage | ≥ 6.1.0&&< 6.1.4.7 | 6.1.4.7bundle update activestorage --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | activestorage | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.2.3 | 7.0.2.3bundle update activestorage --conservative |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianactive storagerubyonrailsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for activestorage, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update activestorage to 5.2.6.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-21831 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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.
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.
To work around this issue, applications should implement a strict allow-list on accepted transformation methods or arguments. Additionally, a strict image magick security policy will help mitigate this issue: https://imagemagick.org/script/security-policy.phpSource: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2022-21831 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-21831 in your dependencies?
Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.