How severe is CVE-2023-48220?

CVE-2023-48220 has a CVSS score of 5.7/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-48220?

CVE-2023-48220 affects the following packages: decidim (RubyGems), decidim-admin (RubyGems), decidim-system (RubyGems), devise_invitable (RubyGems), decidim (RubyGems), decidim-admin (RubyGems), decidim-system (RubyGems). Ecosystems affected: RubyGems.

How do I fix CVE-2023-48220?

Update decidim to 0.26.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-48220 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-48220 in my RubyGems dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for decidim, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-48220 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.

Is CVE-2023-48220 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-48220 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-48220?

CVE-2023-48220 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.8%, placing it in the 57th 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.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-48220?

CVE-2023-48220 is classified as CWE-672 (CWE-672). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-48220 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-48220 was published on February 20, 2024 and was last updated on October 28, 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

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-48220 — decidim

MEDIUMFix: decidim/decidim@073e60e

CVE-2023-48220 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.7) CWE-672 vulnerability in decidim. A fix is available for decidim — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Decidim's devise_invitable gem vulnerable to circumvention of invitation token expiry period

Also known asGHSA-w3q8-m492-4pwp

Published

Feb 20, 2024

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

7 pkgs

Patched

7 / 7

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-48220.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs57th percentile — riskier than 57% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

7 pkgs affected

💎decidim💎decidim-admin💎decidim-system💎devise_invitable💎decidim💎decidim-admin💎decidim-system

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

Impact

The invites feature allows users to accept the invitation for an unlimited amount of time through the password reset functionality.

When using the password reset functionality, the devise_invitable gem always accepts the pending invitation if the user has been invited as shown in this piece of code within the devise_invitable gem: https://github.com/scambra/devise_invitable/blob/41f58970ff76fb64382a9b9ea1bd530f7c3adab2/lib/devise_invitable/models.rb#L198

The only check done here is if the user has been invited but the code does not ensure that the pending invitation is still valid as defined by the invite_for expiry period as explained in the gem's documentation: https://github.com/scambra/devise_invitable#model-configuration-

invite_for: The period the generated invitation token is valid. After this period, the invited resource won’t be able to accept the invitation. When invite_for is 0 (the default), the invitation won’t expire.

Decidim sets this configuration to 2.weeks so this configuration should be respected: https://github.com/decidim/decidim/blob/d2d390578050772d1bdb6d731395f1afc39dcbfc/decidim-core/config/initializers/devise.rb#L134

The bug is in the devise_invitable gem and should be fixed there and the dependency should be upgraded in Decidim once the fix becomes available.

Patches

Update devise_invitable to version 2.0.9 or above by running the following command:

$ bundle update devise_invitable

Workarounds

The invitations can be cancelled directly from the database by running the following command from the Rails console:

> Decidim::User.invitation_not_accepted.update_all(invitation_token: nil)

References

OWASP ASVS V4.0.3-2.3.1

This bug has existed in the devise_invitable gem since this commit which was first included in the v0.4.rc3 release of this gem: https://github.com/scambra/devise_invitable/commit/94d859c7de0829bf63f679ae5dd3cab2b866a098

All versions since then are affected.

This gem was first introduced at its version ~> 1.7.0 to the decidim-admin gem in this commit which was first included in the v0.0.1.alpha3 release of Decidim: https://github.com/decidim/decidim/commit/073e60e2e4224dd81815a784002ebba30f2ebb34

It was first introduced at its version ~> 1.7.0 to the decidim-system gem in this commit which was also first included in the v0.0.1.alpha3 release of Decidim: https://github.com/decidim/decidim/commit/b12800717a689c295a9ea680a38ca9f823d2c454

Credits

This issue was discovered in City of Helsinki's security audit against Decidim 0.27 done during September 2023. The security audit was implemented by Deloitte Finland.

Affected Packages

7 total 7 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💎RubyGems	`decidim`	≥ 0.0.1.alpha3&&< 0.26.9	0.26.9`bundle update decidim --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`decidim-admin`	≥ 0.0.1.alpha3&&< 0.26.9	0.26.9`bundle update decidim-admin --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`decidim-system`	≥ 0.0.1.alpha3&&< 0.26.9	0.26.9`bundle update decidim-system --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`devise_invitable`	≥ 0.4.rc3&&< 2.0.9	2.0.9`bundle update devise_invitable --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`decidim`	≥ 0.27.0&&< 0.27.5	0.27.5`bundle update decidim --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`decidim-admin`	≥ 0.27.0&&< 0.27.5	0.27.5`bundle update decidim-admin --conservative`

Affected Products

2 products · 15 configurations

Application

decidimdecidim

≥ 0.27.0 && < 0.27.5

1 version

0.0.1

Application

devise invitablescambra

≥ 0.4.1 && < 2.0.9

1 version

0.4.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for decidim, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update decidim to 0.26.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-48220 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact The invites feature allows users to accept the invitation for an unlimited amount of time through the password reset functionality. When using the password reset functionality, the `devise_invitable` gem always accepts the pending invitation if the user has been invited as shown in this piece of code within the `devise_invitable` gem: https://github.com/scambra/devise_invitable/blob/41f58970ff76fb64382a9b9ea1bd530f7c3adab2/lib/devise_invitable/models.rb#L198 The only check done here is if the user has been invited but the code does not ensure that the pending invitation is still v