CVE-2023-22796
HIGHCVE-2023-22796 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in activesupport. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-22796 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ReDoS based DoS vulnerability in Active Support's underscore
Real-World Exposure
activesupport💎activesupportReal-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
A regular expression based DoS vulnerability in Active Support <6.1.7.1 and <7.0.4.1. A specially crafted string passed to the underscore method can cause the regular expression engine to enter a state of catastrophic backtracking. This can cause the process to use large amounts of CPU and memory, leading to a possible DoS vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | activesupport | all versions | 6.1.7.1 |
| 💎RubyGems | activesupport | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.4.1 | 7.0.4.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for activesupport. 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 activesupport to 6.1.7.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-22796 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-2023-22796 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-2023-22796. 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-2023-22796 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-22796 across RubyGems dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.