CVE-2022-45442 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) CWE-494 vulnerability in sinatra. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for sinatra — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Sinatra vulnerable to Reflected File Download attack
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-45442.
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
sinatra💎sinatraReal-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
Sinatra is a domain-specific language for creating web applications in Ruby. An issue was discovered in Sinatra 2.0 before 2.2.3 and 3.0 before 3.0.4. An application is vulnerable to a reflected file download (RFD) attack that sets the Content-Disposition header of a response when the filename is derived from user-supplied input. Version 2.2.3 and 3.0.4 contain patches for this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | sinatra | ≥ 3.0&&< 3.0.4 | 3.0.4bundle update sinatra --conservative |
| 💎RubyGems | sinatra | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.2.3 | 2.2.3bundle update sinatra --conservative |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebiansinatrasinatrarbResearch 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 sinatra, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update sinatra to 3.0.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-45442 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.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | pcs-0:0.10.14-5.el8_7.2 | RHSA-2023:0855 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 Update Services for SAP Solutions | pcs-0:0.10.2-4.el8_1.3 | RHSA-2023:0857 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Telecommunications Update Service | pcs-0:0.10.4-6.el8_2.4 | RHSA-2023:0393 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support | pcs-0:0.10.8-1.el8_4.3 | RHSA-2023:0506 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support | pcs-0:0.10.12-6.el8_6.3 | RHSA-2023:0427 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | pcs-0:0.11.3-4.el9_1.2 | RHSA-2023:0974 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Extended Update Support | pcs-0:0.11.1-10.el9_0.3 | RHSA-2023:0527 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-45442 in your dependencies?
Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.