How severe is CVE-2023-49090?

CVE-2023-49090 has a CVSS score of 6.8/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-49090?

CVE-2023-49090 affects the following packages: carrierwave (RubyGems), carrierwave (RubyGems). Ecosystems affected: RubyGems.

How do I fix CVE-2023-49090?

Update carrierwave to 3.0.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-49090 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-49090 in my RubyGems dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-49090 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Is CVE-2023-49090 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-49090 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-2023-49090?

CVE-2023-49090 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.6%, placing it in the 50th 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-2023-49090?

CVE-2023-49090 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2023-49090 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-49090 was published on November 29, 2023 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-2023-49090 — carrierwave

MEDIUMFix: carrierwaveuploader/carrierwave@39b282d

CVE-2023-49090 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in carrierwave. A fix is available for carrierwave — see the affected versions and patch details below.

CarrierWave has a content-type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS

Also known asGHSA-gxhx-g4fq-49hj

Published

Nov 29, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 6, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

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-2023-49090.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs50th percentile — riskier than 50% 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

2 pkgs affected

💎carrierwave💎carrierwave

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

CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS.

The validation in allowlisted_content_type? determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the content_type argument of allowlisted_content_type? is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the content_type_allowlist will be allowed.

In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by the attacker at the time of file delivery, it is possible to cause XSS on the user's browser when the uploaded file is opened.

Patches

Upgrade to 3.0.5 or 2.2.5.

Workarounds

When validating with allowlisted_content_type? in CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist , forward match(\A) the Content-Type set in content_type_allowlist, preventing unintentional permission of text/html;image/png when you want to allow only image/png in content_type_allowlist.

References

OWASP - File Upload Cheat Sheet

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💎RubyGems	`carrierwave`	≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.5	3.0.5`bundle update carrierwave --conservative`
💎RubyGems	`carrierwave`	all versions	2.2.5`bundle update carrierwave --conservative`

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

carrierwavecarrierwave_project

≥ 3.0.0 && < 3.0.5

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for carrierwave, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update carrierwave to 3.0.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-49090 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact [CarrierWave::Uploader::ContentTypeAllowlist](https://github.com/carrierwaveuploader/carrierwave/blob/master/lib/carrierwave/uploader/content_type_allowlist.rb) has a Content-Type allowlist bypass vulnerability, possibly leading to XSS. The validation in `allowlisted_content_type?` determines Content-Type permissions by performing a partial match. If the `content_type` argument of `allowlisted_content_type?` is passed a value crafted by the attacker, Content-Types not included in the `content_type_allowlist` will be allowed. In addition, by setting the Content-Type configured by